New Guy
by trichloroethane
Summary: In which Kaldur moves to London, meets a whole new set of friends and ends up being punched in the face by the love of his life. AU, slash
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: **

Disclaimer: I don't have anything to do with Young Justice.

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Homosexual relationships, discussion of sexual matters, alcohol, AU, possible OOC, language

A/N: First YJ fic, first anon prompt fill *ever*…yeah. For the sake of simplicity here I have decided to make up more than a few things instead of shoehorning convoluted pasts and other characters into various roles. So this fic is very, very AU (just as a warning). Other than that, enjoy!

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Kaldur stared up at the departures board, hardly able to believe that he was actually going to do this. For the first time in his life, he was about to leave the familiar shores of home and head for greener pastures, so to speak. He blinked back a sting in his eyes and double-checked that yes, his flight was still leaving at 8.30pm, one and a half hours from now, and yes, it was still headed to Heathrow, London. A sudden burst of noise exploded somewhere near him and he hastily dug into his bag, pulling out the same battered old phone he'd used since his first year at university.

"Kaldur?"

Kaldur smiled. "Hey Garth."

"Hey, I'm sorry I couldn't make it out this afternoon to see you off. I know we haven't really talked since the triplets are keeping us so busy and all, but I just wanted to say goodbye."

"Of course. I'm glad you called; it's good hearing from you. How's Tula doing?" As he listened to Garth's tale of woe involving Tula, little Katie and a jar of crunchy peanut butter, he slowly made his way to the airport lounge, smiling at the friendly receptionist and passing her his invitation. He cast a quick glance back at the crowded waiting area and was thankful that there were some perks to being a very frequent flier.

"So Mom just got back from the airport and came straight here."

Kaldur laughed. "How's she holding up?"

"Oh, the usual." Garth's voice trembled as though he was trying to hold back laughter. "Her baby's leaving, how will she ever survive without her widdle ickie Kaldie-kins?"

This was not unusual. Kaldur vividly remembered the first time he'd gone on a business trip. Although it had been to San Francisco for the grand total of two days, his mother had still fussed like he was still incapable of tying his own shoelaces. "Nothing more then?"

"Well, you know how it is," Garth was a little quieter now. "I think she's still secretly hoping you'll come back home and announce that you've changed your mind."

"At least she'll have the triplets to keep her occupied." Garth's chuckle was a little more subdued than usual, although no less genuine.

"Yeah, it's helping some. We're going to miss having you around for Sunday lunch. And I know the kids will probably keep asking when you're going to come back."

"It's not that bad," the other man commented, "Soon it'll be Christmas, and I'll be headed home."

"You sure about that?" Garth's tone was teasing now; it was a well-established fact that Kaldur had always been the more serious of the two and often bordered on being a workaholic. "Sure you're not going to be doing big, important lawyerly things in London?"

"You could always come and visit."

"Huh. Christmas in London. I've heard it gets cold."

"Nothing like LA." As he said those three words, Kaldur suddenly felt his eyes sting just a little. After all, he was preparing to leave the city in which he'd grown up, the city that he knew better than the back of his own hand, the city that had given him so much. Garth must have sensed something; he was alert like that, and asked if he'd like to talk to Tula and the triplets.

"Hey, Kaldur, listen, if there's anything—"

"Of course. You'll be the first to know."

"Good. And say hi to Roy for me."

"Certainly."

"Right. Um, here's Tula. I'll just let you talk to her for a bit then." Kaldur relaxed and leaned into the leather sofa, making himself comfortable as his sister-in-law talked his ear off for the next ten minutes.

**90 minutes later:**

Kaldur sighed and shifted a little in his seat, not relishing the prospect of the long flight ahead. Thankfully, the seats weren't too uncomfortable and it was a relatively new plane, so he had his own TV screen to watch should the urge to 'catch up on 'the latest blockbusters' sneak up on him. As the captain greeted the passengers on board, he felt a lump suddenly rise in his throat and his eyes began to sting again. In spite of his eagerness to explore one of the biggest cities in the world, he knew that he was going to miss LA. Kaldur made it a point to keep staring out the window as they prepared for takeoff, trying to remember every detail of the bare strip that was the last part of LA he would see for a while.

**5 hours later: **

Kaldur was awoken from his nap by the familiar 'beep' signalling passengers to put on their seatbelts and the sound of the captain's voice. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he looked around to see that the lights were dimmed, indicating that most of his fellow travellers were also just as tired as he was. Thankfully, it had been a relatively quiet and peaceful flight, aside from the twenty minutes of turbulence that made him feel as though he were on a roller coaster rather than a plane. A rattling noise and the smell of overheated aeroplane food reached his ears and nose simultaneously, and he gave a small sigh of resignation. _Guess we're nowhere near London yet._

Two movies and half of Stephen King's latest novel later, the captain finally announced that they would shortly be arriving at Heathrow and requested that passengers fasten their seatbelts and straighten their chairs. More than familiar with the drill, Kaldur simply pressed the button on the side of his chair and leaned back with a sigh. He needed to find a pool; his back was already starting to ache a little from being cooped up in such a small place for so long. He idly wondered if Roy would mind taking him to the gym first thing tomorrow.

**London: **

Kaldur's first few minutes in London were spent being jostled along a set of narrow corridors into the immigration area of Heathrow Airport. After a slight fuss wherein his fingerprints were repeatedly rejected by the scanner, he finally proceeded down into the baggage claim area and soon found himself in the main arrivals hall. Now, where was the driver he'd hired to take him to Roy's?

He soon spotted an Indian man holding a large placard with various crossed-out misspellings of his name, followed by a slightly-squashed 'Kaldur' on one side of the card. He quickly headed over to the driver and introduced himself, letting the other take his luggage and escort him to the parking lot.

"So you're headed to Shoreditch then?" The driver asked as they eased out onto the road. Kaldur gave a start and hastily dug out the address Roy had given him.

"Ah…yes."

"Kay Street, E2?"

"Yes."

Seeing that his passenger would not be particularly communicative on this topic, the driver decided to switch tack. "First time in London?"

Kaldur was surprised. "I, uh, yes." He could see the other man's amused smile in the reflection from the windshield and felt even more awkward.

"Visiting a friend?"

"No. I'm moving here. My firm sent me over since they needed someone who was familiar with American company law in…here."

"Barrister or solicitor?"

"What?" Kaldur blinked. Was there a difference?

"Barrister or solicitor?" There was no judgment in the other's tone, simply idle curiosity. "You have to wear those little wigs and black robes?"

"No…" Oh God, what did the British do to their lawyers? Surely they weren't going to make _him_ wear a wig and black robes, were they?

"Solicitor, then. Mind you, I'm not too sure of the difference myself, and I reckon the only people who do are the lawyers themselves. Got any friends or family here then?"

"Yes; a friend. He was the one who persuaded me to take the job."

"London's a fine city," the other replied with a chuckle. "Where do you come from?"

"LA." The driver seemed particularly excited and proceeded to quiz him on all aspects of American life and LA in particular. Kaldur patiently answered all his questions, glad to find that contrary to what some people told him, the British were not all stuffy and cold. As they got into the main part of the city, he could not but feel just a little excited at the sight of all the landmarks he'd only previously seen in books and movies. As the car wound its way through narrow streets lined with old brick houses that could have been directly lifted out of Industrial-Revolution London, Kaldur found himself itching to walk around and simply explore the city.

They soon turned into Hackney Row. "What's the number again?"

After driving up and down the same street for ten minutes, Kaldur finally gave in and placed a very, very expensive phone call to his friend. "Roy?"

"Kaldur! Where are you?"

"We're headed west along Hackney Road, looking for your place now."

"Yeah, just keep on going down, you'll see it eventually. It'll be the big grey building with a bright blue door."

Much to Kaldur's relief, Roy's directions proved sufficient. After paying the driver with a number of brightly-coloured bills, Kaldur carefully took in his surroundings and fought back a sudden wave of homesickness. There was nothing here that would have fit in with LA at all, and the harsh strangeness made his eyes prickle just slightly.

The blue door suddenly swung open and Roy stepped out, providing an immediate distraction from his thoughts. "Well look at what the cat dragged in!" Roy pulled him in for a brief but firm hug, thumping his back before letting go. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Kaldur immediately noted that his friend appeared to have aged a little, handsome features sharper than when he'd left LA three years ago. "How was the journey, traveller?"

Kaldur spent his first night in London watching 'Have I Got News for You' and eating instant ramen with Roy.

The next day dawned bright and sunny, with Kaldur waking up with a renewed sense of excitement. Roy had taken a few days off to take him around town and most importantly, show him where his new flat was. Although the apartment he'd rented online and gotten Roy to check out for him came fully-furnished, his personal belongings would not arrive until two days from now, and at his old friend's insistence he'd agreed to stay over until he could properly unpack.

Roy stumbled into the living room around 11am with a mug of coffee clutched in one hand, hair sticking up wildly in all directions and scowling. He never had been a morning person. After thirty minutes in silence as the caffeine worked its magic, Roy finally spoke. "So what do you need to do over here?"

"I was thinking about getting the little things done first; phone, internet, utilities…"

"Bank account?"

"Sorted it out in LA. I just have to go pick up my PIN from them at some point. It's not coming 'til Thursday though, so I was thinking I'd wait until then."

"Yeah? Why don't I take you by a phone store then? They usually have some good deals on phone/internet combos. Might even be able to get you cable, if you want."

"That would be good."

"Did the landlord say who to call about utilities?"

"He mentioned British Gas, I think." Roy nodded.

"When do you want to head out?"

"I was thinking we could perhaps get some lunch and then talk to the phone people."

"Okay, let me get changed and we'll get going." Kaldur sighed. Roy was going to take a while.

"What?"

"Nothing…."

Ignoring the odd spluttering noise coming from his friend, Kaldur stood up to locate his shoes. As he headed out the door, he heard Roy's reply oh-so-faintly: "I am _not_ a diva!"

Not having had the opportunity to explore the neighbourhood further, Kaldur found himself wandering up and down the same street, concluding that Roy lived in a residential complex next to a government housing estate. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful day and the man found himself content to sit on the pavement.

True to form, Roy reappeared close to noon, hair slightly damp but obviously gelled. "Shall we?" Kaldur smiled.

Setting up his phone was a little confusing at first, since the salesman kept talking about 'tariffs'. After realising that these were nothing more than extra add-ons that would give him certain benefits, Kaldur settled for a monthly package that would allow him to regularly place international calls at no extra charge. That was important. He also managed to wrangle a deal for cable and Internet, both to be installed sometime in the next week when he would have hopefully moved into his new apartment.

"Come on," he nudged his obviously bored-to-tears friend. "Let's go get something to eat." Roy perked up instantly.

They ended up at a tiny Indian place because the redhead refused to 'eat at a f-ing Patisserie Valerie ever again.' It amused Kaldur to no end that his friend even knew how to pronounce the French name properly. Nevertheless, the food was tasty and came in hearty portions. Contrary to his expectations, the bill was not exorbitantly high and Kaldur made a note of the name and location. Perhaps he could bring a friend here, or get take-out if the sign on the wall was accurate.

They took the underground train to King's Cross, causing Kaldur to nearly faint from the stifling heat. Roy had to support him out, sighing melodramatically and all the while asking how he would ever be able to handle rush hour if a half-empty train already gave him the next closest thing to heatstroke.

King's Cross tube station was nothing like its film counterpart. Kyle would be absolutely heartbroken when he found out that Harry Potter _lied_. Roy tapped his shoulder and tilted his head in a 'follow me' gesture, ignoring all of Kaldur's questions as to where they were headed. They walked out onto another platform, where Roy strode ahead purposefully whilst Kaldur attempted not to bump into anyone. Many of the people standing around carried small suitcases, as though they were headed somewhere for a weekend. Then Roy grabbed his arm and pointed. "Look."

Kaldur turned and to his astonishment saw half a luggage trolley sticking out of the wall, a 'Platform 9 ¾' sign hanging discreetly above. Without thinking, he simply pulled his new phone out and snapped a quick picture of the entire scene.

Roy grinned. "Should send that to the triplets." And if Kaldur made that his cellphone background for the next few weeks too, well, no one needed to know.

After ten minutes' walk from the station, Roy turned into a relatively quiet looking street. "There you go. Number 32."

Kaldur looked up at the converted townhouse. It was quite nondescript as far as houses went; brown brick with white windowsills, black door with a prim brass '32' tacked on and a matching flap for the mail. He decided to take a photo. Roy smirked at him again and motioned him forward. "Keys?"

As they entered the building, Kaldur immediately noticed the lift just off to the side of the stairs. That would be a great help; he had not been looking forward to hauling his belongings up and down and he'd heard from a family friend last month that many, many houses in London were so old that installing an elevator simply wasn't an option. At least he would have the luxury of not having to climb up numerous flights of stairs. "Fourth floor," grumbled Roy from behind him. "Come on, we haven't got all day."

As they reached the first landing, a yellow and red blur suddenly shot past him. Bewildered, Kaldur looked down to see a redheaded man, slightly younger than him, clothed in some kind of sports outfit with a red lightning bolt across the front and back. "Sorry!" The blur yelled as it yanked the door open and rushed into the afternoon sun. Roy rolled his eyes and mumbled something about 'idiot kids'.

They finally reached the fourth floor, which turned out to also be the top floor. If the real estate agent and Roy were to be believed, he also had keys to the balcony upstairs. First things first: he had to make sure the landlord had kept his promise and at least deep-cleaned the place.

Thankfully, the slight odour of fresh paint was the first thing that assaulted his nostrils when he entered. The apartment was just as bright and airy as the listing promised. On his left were the living room and bedroom, with the bathroom just opposite. Roy grinned. "Told you it was nice. They just redid the paintwork, since some parts were peeling, and I reckon they would have had to clean up afterwards anyway."

"Thank you."

Roy waved him off. "It was nothing. I would have asked for the same and more for any place _I_ was renting."

Considering how picky and uncompromising the other man was, Kaldur could well see it. "No, thank you, my friend. This means a lot to me."

Roy rolled his eyes. "You can repay me by coming over on the weekends. I found a place that does decent Mexican nearby; I'll take you there sometime."

"Of course."

After checking to make sure everything was in proper working order, clean and present, Kaldur was ready to leave. He needed to buy a desk lamp for his room and a few standing ones for the sitting room, but apart from that there was little else that was not already on its way over. Even the bed seemed brand new, mattress still wrapped in plastic.

King's Cross as a neighbourhood appeared to be full of convenience stores and Indian/halal restaurants. It was by no means a particularly beautiful area by any stretch of the imagination, but it was certainly distinctive and nothing like the US. Kaldur found himself excited at the prospect of living here.

The next week passed in a blur; apart from hauling all his boxes upstairs when they finally arrived (three days late, thank you very much), he spent most of his time getting to know the area. Roy took him to every single hole-in-the-wall restaurant, coffee shop and deli in the Shoreditch area, culminating in a visit to Spitalfields. "I know you like fresh produce, because you're prissy like that," the other had explained, "and I need vegetables anyway." Kaldur picked up a chunk of dark purple cheese, which had apparently been aged in red wine. He also found a store selling old vinyl records and would have bought one if it hadn't proven to a little unwieldy. Roy had roped him into helping out with the groceries, so by the end of the day both were loaded down with bags full of carrots, squash and other vegetables. "We're having chili," the other explained with a fiendish grin.

"Be gentle." Roy's guffaws caught the attention of the entire car.

Kaldur officially started living in his apartment on Monday morning. Although Roy had rushed out early, tie askew and a tuft of hair sticking up practically perpendicular to his head, the darker man encountered no problems finding his apartment.

Just as he was about to use his key, there was a scraping sound from the other side and the door swung open so suddenly that Kaldur was sure he would have ended up on the floor if he'd been just a few seconds faster. It was the same redheaded man he and Roy had encountered, although this time he was dressed casually with a large duffle bag over one shoulder. Green eyes widened in recognition and then crinkled as their owner beamed. "Hey, you're the new guy right?"

"Yes," Kaldur replied, taken aback by the other's friendliness. "I live on—"

"Fourth floor. Yeah, I remember your friend too. Came by to check out the place a while ago, right?" Kaldur could only nod as the other rambled on. "He and the realtor really got into it; I've never heard anyone bargain so hard in my life. Or get such a good deal, really."

Kaldur smiled at the thought of Roy fighting to lower the price. "He always did know how to haggle," he agreed. The other man laughed.

"I'll say! Hey, I'm Wally. What's your name?"

"I'm Kaldur."

Wally gave him a bright smile. "Welcome to Number 32, Kaldur. Listen, I'm kind of in a rush right now, but I'm having some friends over tonight. Why don't you come join us? It's nothing fancy, probably just pizza and bad movies but it's the company that counts! And it's never easy arriving in a new city."

Kaldur thought about the offer. It was certainly tempting, and it wasn't as though he had anything better to do tonight. "That's very kind of you."

"Don't mention it. So, 6.30 this evening then. I'll be expecting you. I'm on the third floor, by the way." Since there was only one apartment per floor, Kaldur imagined it would not be difficult to find. "I'll see you tonight then!" And with those words, Wally was off like a shot, sprinting down the road as if his life depended on it.

Kaldur arrived in front of Wally's door at 6.30pm sharp, according to his watch anyway. He looked around and cautiously knocked, hoping that the party hadn't been pushed to a later time or something else. He looked down at the lemon cheesecake he'd picked up from Waitrose and hoped it would be enough.

Two knocks later and still no answer. Kaldur frowned. Perhaps no one was at home? Maybe he'd heard Wally wrong, and was supposed to go to a different floor? A babble of voices from downstairs reached his ears and soon a pretty redheaded girl came into view, followed by a slender dark-haired man wearing sunglasses. Perhaps they too were Wally's guests?

Upon seeing him standing in front of the door, the man sighed. "You Wally's neighbour?" He asked briskly.

"Uh…yes."

The other grinned and stuck his hand out. "Nice to meet you. I'm Robin." His grip was surprisingly strong.

"I'm—"

The girl jumped in quickly. "I'm Megan. It's nice to meet you…" She trailed off and turned bright red. "Hello Megan! I forgot to ask your name!"

Kaldur chuckled a little. "No, not at all. I'm Kaldur. I just moved here from LA."

The other two laughed. "That sounds amazing," gushed Megan. "I've always wanted to visit the States, but just never had the opportunity. What's living in LA like? Are there movie stars everywhere? Is the weather always so nice? I mean, London's got its good days, of course, but nothing like—"

Robin hastily cut in. "This is lovely, but I'd really like to get inside soon. You knock yet?"

"There was no answer," Kaldur replied. From the way Robin and Megan looked at each other with a mix of resignation and amusement, he figured that this was not an uncommon occurrence.

"He probably got carried away," Robin commented. "Here, let me." He slid his way onto the narrow landing and pulled out a bunch of keys, flicking through them quickly. A quick twist and the door opened easily. Kaldur blinked. Obviously Robin was very close to Wally if he even had a key to the other's apartment. Catching his expression, the dark-haired man smirked but said nothing.

"Are you sure Wally won't mind?" Kaldur asked cautiously. "I mean, I only just met him briefly this afternoon."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Are you a thief?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Are you planning on stalking him?"

Before Kaldur could answer, a new voice cut in.

"What the hell?" Robin and Megan both jerked up and all Kaldur saw before pain rocketed through his jaw was a pair of blazing blue eyes.

The first thing Kaldur heard when he came to was Megan's voice. "Thank goodness," the girl sighed in relief. "Are you all right?"

"Ngh."

"Here, just lie still." Someone brought what had to be a fresh bag of ice in and obviously at some point between his little accident and being brought over to the couch Wally had returned.

"Kaldur, are you all right?" Wally was now crouched beside him. "I'm really sorry about everything! Believe me, I did not invite you over to have your face smashed in. There was absolutely no violence on tonight's programme, I assure you. And you lot!" Wally whipped around to face presumably Megan and Robin. "What on earth was going on?" When it became clear that no coherent answer was forthcoming, Wally huffed out an exasperated sigh.

"Robin said he was stalking you." Kaldur could not help but notice that the new speaker had a nice voice; deep with a slight rasp.

Robin groaned. "I was _joking_."

"But Artemis said last week—"

"That was different. And what did we say about going around punching strangers?"

"…"

"Enough," Kaldur croaked out. As he tried to sit up, a wave of dizziness overcame him and he flopped back down on the couch like a fish. "I expressed my doubts over whether to enter your house when you weren't in it, and Robin merely made a joke at my expense, inquiring whether I intended to stalk you. Then someone presumably punched me, and here I am." From the sudden silence in the room, he just _knew_ that everyone was staring at him. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

"I like him," another girl standing off to the side commented.

Wally dashed back over to the couch, green eyes earnest and still apologetic. "Look, I am so very sorry for this. Why don't I get someone to help you back upstairs?"

"No," Kaldur managed. Honestly, he wanted nothing more than to go back upstairs, slip into the shower and then sleep. "I'll be fine, just give me a little while longer and I'll let myself out."

"Don't be an idiot," the other girl sighed. "Conner, can you get Kaldur upstairs? Consider it an apology."

There was a mutter off to the side and suddenly he found himself lifted full off the couch in a bridal carry. Clearly this Conner was very strong. "Hey, be careful with him!" Wally squawked somewhere near his shoulder. "Kaldur, I am so sorry. I promise the next time you'll actually get to, you know, meet everyone."

Kaldur managed a smile. "I look forward to it."

The trip upstairs was awkward, to say the least. Kaldur found himself placed surprisingly gently on the ground and fumbled in his pocket for the keys, free hand subconsciously rubbing his jaw. "Sorry," Conner grumbled and Kaldur slowly turned to face him.

"Don't worry about it." He made to enter to the apartment, assuming that Conner would simply go back downstairs and rejoin his friends.

"You'll be okay, right?" Kaldur nodded, not trusting himself to speak at the sight of wide, pleading blue eyes and an almost-pout on those handsome features. "'M really sorry," the other mumbled and fled downstairs, leaving a bemused Kaldur staring out onto the landing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: **

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.

Rating: PG-13

A/N: Hey all, thank you so much for your lovely comments! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. I'll be posting this up on sometime, so when I do get around to it I'll give you the link so that I don't have to keep splitting the chapters up into LJ-friendly chunks. In the meantime, enjoy!

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Kaldur was normally a morning person. He genuinely enjoyed getting up early and fitting in an hour's exercise before coffee and toast. Unfortunately, today was not one of those days. His jaw throbbed steadily and he just knew that no matter how dark his skin was, it would not conceal the nasty bruise Conner had given him the night before. Say what you will about the man; he knew how to throw a mean right hook.

He staggered into the kitchen and dug out a bag of frozen peas, hissing at the cold against his skin. Slowly and rather painfully, he got the coffee machine working and was soon settled down in a small chair with his usual breakfast. Thankfully, he didn't seem to have too much trouble chewing, although he would only really be able to tell after the ice came off.

Kaldur stared at himself in the mirror in horror. Although his dark skin already made the bruise seem less obvious, it was clear that there was no way he could go anywhere without looking like he'd been in a bar brawl. _At least no one will pick a fight with me in the foreseeable future,_ he thought wryly.

Just as he'd resigned himself to looking like 'the tough black kid who came from the wrong side of the tracks', his memory kicked in. Or rather, his shiny new phone reminded him that 'Work starts tomorrow!" at 9am sharp. Kaldur thus discovered that yes, Mark Twain was right and swearing beat praying any time.

Kaldur headed down to the gym, intent of checking out the facilities and opening up a new membership. After a brief talk with the receptionist, he found himself in possession of a month-long membership and various brochures. It turned out that the place was fairly spacious and well-equipped, although the regulations appeared quite strict and many of the rooms were occupied by classes, mostly consisting of housewives trying to get their daily routine in. After an hour of strenuous exercise, Kaldur decided that it might be worth taking a look at the brochures. After all, most of the classes were free for members, and he'd always been interested in Muay Thai. So there went his Monday and Thursday evenings.

Just as he'd finished making full use of the truly awful showers in the changing rooms, his phone emitted a few business-like chirps. It turned out to be a text from Roy, asking if he had time for lunch today and mentioning that work was 'so f-cking boring.' At least his friend would have a good laugh, Kaldur thought as he checked his bruise in the mirror again before leaving.

"What the hell?" Were the first words out of Roy's mouth when he saw Kaldur. The dark-skinned man shrugged helplessly.

"Someone punched me."

"I never would have guessed."

"He was under the impression I was stalking his friend."

Roy gave a whistle of admiration. "I leave you for a day and you acquire a bruise _and_ a reputation for stalking within 24 hours? Colour me impressed."

"It's a strange story. I'm not too sure of the details myself."

Roy sighed and clapped him on the shoulder, steering him towards a small side street. "Well, you can tell me all about it while we eat."

True to form, Roy found the entire incident hilarious. So hilarious, in fact, that he insisted on accompanying Kaldur the next time Wally had a house party to 'check out his crew.' The other had a sneaking suspicion that his friend was up to something, but nevertheless promised to keep in touch.

Kaldur found himself next to Trafalgar Square, staring at the office buildings surrounding one of London's most famous landmarks. Were his colleagues off yet? Were they somewhere here, meeting friends or hurrying home? Would they be friendly? Would they welcome him? Kaldur ended up lost in his own thoughts, coming to only when the sun started to go down and the wind became just a little chillier. A quick dinner at a nearby pub, and he headed home. After all, it was his first day at work tomorrow.

As he walked up the road back to Number 32, someone suddenly clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Kaldur right?"

Kaldur managed to narrowly prevent himself from taking a swing at the other. "Wally! Don't scare me like that!"

Wally hastily backed off, both hands up in the universal gesture of 'I come in peace.' "How's your jaw? I'm still incredibly sorry for that, Conner's kind of…literal-minded at times."

"It's…fine. Sore."

Wally grinned sheepishly. "I've got some bruise cream upstairs. It's pretty awesome stuff; heals up quickly and feels great. Why don't you come by and I'll give you some?" Sensing the other's hesitancy, he quickly added, "I promise you won't get beaten up this time." Despite his anxiety about starting his new job, Kaldur could not help but be affected by the other's infectious good cheer.

"That's very kind of you. Are you sure you don't need it?"

Wally laughed. "No, not at all. I always have a few jars stocked up since I'm pretty clumsy. I've got plenty spare."

"I wouldn't want to…"

"Nonsense!" Before too long, they arrived at Wally's apartment, where the other made a great deal out of opening the door with his key and looking around as though reassuring Kaldur that no one was going to come and deck him in the face this time. "Wait here," Wally told the other before dashing into his room. He soon reappeared holding a small brown bottle with Chinese writing pasted on the front. "Just rub it into the affected area three times a day," he told Kaldur. "And maybe not before you go out. It smells pretty strong, but it's very effective."

Kaldur blinked. "Thank you. You didn't have to go through the trouble."

Wally dismissed the thanks with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry about it. After all, I am partly responsible for the entire accident, so think of this as my way of saying sorry."

"There's nothing to apologise for."

"Well, then consider it a welcome present, since I'm not going to be baking cookies any time soon."

Kaldur looked again at the little bottle. Surely it wouldn't hurt to try using it; after all, it was better than constantly pressing a bag of frozen peas to his face. "How did you come by this?" Wally didn't seem to be the type of person who went in for old Chinese herbal remedies.

"Oh, I just asked Robin. He had a friend who recommended for a nasty sprain doing capoeira, and he's pretty much sworn by it ever since. Won't use anything else." Well, Robin seemed like a reliable source of information.

"And you are…close?" At the look on Wally's face, Kaldur hastened to explain himself more fully. "He has a key to your apartment." The wary expression on the redhead's face vanished, instantly replaced by its usual cheerful grin.

"Oh yeah, definitely. He works close by so if he has a late night, he just comes over. I got tired of him ringing me up every night so I just handed him a key and gave him access to the couch and spare blankets."

"And you knew each other before?"

"Sure. Practically lived in each other's pockets." Wally didn't offer any further information, so Kaldur thought it prudent to leave the matter alone lest his neighbour think him nosey.

"Thanks for the ointment. I'll give it back to you as soon as I'm done with it." Wally waved a hand.

"No worries. Always glad to help out a neighbour. And hey, if you're free this Friday night why don't you come over again? We'll be on our best behaviour."

Kaldur smiled in return. "That sounds good. I have a lemon cheesecake in my fridge, and I can't finish it by myself." Wally's answering smile was enough.

"Great! Half six then, just knock on the door."

"Thank you, Wally."

"See you Friday, neighbour!"

Wednesday morning came all too soon, and Kaldur found himself dashing around the kitchen in an obviously-misplaced effort to burn off some nervous energy. Unfortunately, Wally's ointment seemed to be exacerbating the bruise and today it was much, much darker than before, covering his jawline with a nasty mask of deep purple and sickly green. It even ached more fiercely than yesterday! Nevertheless, he had no time to dwell on the fact and was soon out the door, headed straight for the tube station.

Canary Wharf was just as sleek and polished as the first time he saw it with Roy. Every building practically gleamed in the late summer sunlight, glass and chrome winking out at all who passed by. People swarmed around him and Kaldur felt his heart sink as he realized that he could not remember whether to turn left or right at the second crossing. After closing his eyes and breathing deeply for two minutes, he was still no closer to remembering where to go than he had been earlier. He finally decided to turn right, hoping that his memory served him well and would subconsciously aid him. It didn't.

After three conversations with a jogger, a teenager and someone his age who happened to work for Lexcorp, Kaldur finally found himself in front of Wayne & Co., one of the biggest American law firms in the UK. Knowing that he was also late, he hastily trotted in and gave his name to the cheerful blonde receptionist, who immediately escorted him into a conference room. "Kory will be in shortly to handle some paperwork and show you around. Welcome to Wayne & Co.!"

Kory turned out to be a stunning redhead, sharp as a tack but so sweet that Kaldur immediately felt at ease with her. "So here are the usual forms; we've filled them out with whatever details you've provided but if there's anything wrong, please notify me immediately. If not, just sign at the bottom and we'll enter them into the employee database."

Kaldur had seen his fair share of impressive law firms, but Wayne & Co. was the grandest by far. As he simply looked around at the tastefully decorated office, Kory chattered on happily next to him, introducing him to all the associates and heads of department. Kaldur knew that he would have to get a better look at the staff list later; names and titles flew in and out and he knew that he'd be lucky to remember even a quarter of the people to whom he was introduced. They finally arrived at the Company Law department, where Kory took him around to each and every associate. "Everyone be nice now," Kory chirped, "Kaldur's from LA, so he'll need all the help he can get adjusting to a new job _and_ a new city!"

A large door bearing the plaque 'Barry Allen, Sr. Partner' suddenly burst open and a brown-haired man with a twinkle in his eye burst out, tie askew and sleeves rolled up. "Welcome, new recruit!" The man beamed as he strode forward. "I'm Barry Allen, head of Company Law at Wayne & Co. And you are?"

"It's good to meet you, Mr. Allen. I'm Kaldur Ahm. I just came here from LA."

Mr. Allen beamed. "Call me Barry, Kaldur. There's no need for formality with us here. I trust your trip went smoothly?"

"Yes, it did. I'm looking forward to working here, Mr.—er, Barry."

"And we look forward to having you on board. Welcome to the team, Kaldur." With those words, the man strode back into his office, closing the door behind him.

"Here's where you'll be working," Kory chirped as she led him over to a smaller room. "I'll get Marcus from IT to come over and help you get your computer account and whatnot sorted out, and he'll be teaching you how to use the communal database. The phone list is on your desk," she picked up a sheet of paper, "so if you need to call anyone you can find their extension here. If you have any further questions, please let me know!" The cheerful girl proceeded to pick up a phone and request for Marcus to 'come help out the new lawyer'.

It turned out that Marcus wouldn't be free until 10.30 at least, owing to a 'technical difficulty' in Mr. Wayne's office. Kaldur thus found himself with nothing to do except explore his new office. To his surprise, Mr. Allen stopped by. "Kaldur! How are you?"

"I'm…well, thank you. I'm supposed to be getting some help setting up." The older man chuckled.

"Ah, the joys of learning about a new operating system. When do you think you'll be done?"

"Well, the IT person is supposed to be coming up at 10.30, so I imagine perhaps 11.30?"

"And what will you do until then?"

"Er…explore the new office?" Kaldur knew it sounded lame, but he honestly needed access to a computer if he was to do his job properly. To his surprise, Mr. Allen beamed at him.

"That's perfect. Why don't you come down and get a coffee with me now then?" Kaldur blinked. "Why not?" The other asked again. "Surely you're not busy right now?"

"No…"

"Then it's settled. Come and get a coffee with me. Heaven knows I need a break and talking to you sounds like a good way to relax a little."

As they walked out to the lifts, Kaldur could not but feel slightly apprehensive. He knew it was a completely illogical response, but all the same he was unused to his employers being so informal. As though sensing his thoughts, Mr. Allen asked, "So what were you doing in LA before coming here?"

Kaldur smiled. "I was working with another, smaller firm; Western Stone. Perhaps you've heard of them?"

Mr. Allen nodded. "Indeed! It's a fantastic firm. We've had occasion to do business with them from time to time and I must say I've never met such tenacious lawyers! How did you find it?"

The conversation passed in this manner, with the two discussing everything from how they'd decided to enter the legal profession to good places to go jogging (Mr. Allen recommended Regent's Park for early morning runs). Kaldur found himself relaxing more and more with each minute, finding the older man a lively conversationalist. In fact, he was strongly reminded of a less awkward Wally. All too soon, Mr. Allen took a look at his watch and tsked. "Guess we should be going back up now," he told Kaldur with a sigh. "I've got a meeting in 10 minutes."

Kaldur soon found himself face to face with a mousy man, presumably Marcus, who practically threw him into the desk chair and proceeded to bombard him with information. Thankfully, the technician had also written all the essentials down on a sheet of paper, which he proceeded to hand Kaldur with the utmost solemnity. "This is all you information," he said. "Guard it with your life." Then the man proceeded to disappear out the door so quickly it was as though he was being chased.

Around 12.30, Kaldur received his first e-mail, appropriately titled 'Welcome'. It contained a short blurb about him and also stated that there would a welcome lunch for the new associate at 1pm. Leaning back in his chair, Kaldur closed his eyes and hoped that he would not be expected to make a speech. He did not think subjecting his new colleagues to an off-the-cuff rambling monologue would be such a good idea on his first day.

At 12.57, one of the other associates – Victor, he thought, knocked on his door. "Hey new guy, you coming?" Kaldur felt grateful that someone thought to stop by, and immediately nodded.

Kaldur found himself sitting at the partners' table, 'seeing as you're the man of the hour', Mr. Allen had joked. He soon discovered they all had their own unique styles. It was an enjoyable affair, and Mr. Wayne's story involving Mr. Kent, three Pot Noodles and a frog soon had everyone in stitches. _Maybe,_ Kaldur thought, _maybe I could get used to this._

As they returned to the office, Kaldur found himself walking alongside Mr. Wayne. The man's blue eyes stared at him thoughtfully before the other spoke. "So how was your first morning here?"

Kaldur felt slightly guilty upon remembering just how late he'd been. "It's been interesting," he finally replied. "I've been learning how to use the database, really. And making sure that my account works fine and that I have access to associate files as well as templates and forms."

Wayne nodded. "The first day is always like that. And settling in is no mean feat, either. But having said that, you're on the payroll now. Come see me at around half one, and I'll have something for you."

**1.30pm:**

Kaldur blinked at the slender, dark-haired young man next to him, silently waiting in front of Mr. Wayne's office. He was immediately reminded of Robin; his colleague had the same build and was roughly the same height. Nevertheless, he was sure this couldn't be Wally's friend; from what he had seen of Robin, he appeared to be one of those young professionals working in graphic design, or computer programming, or something trendy. He thought he saw the other looking at him out the corner of his eye, but another glance and the man was staring determinedly at the door.

"Come in," he heard Mr. Wayne call briskly. The man nodded at the two of them. "I trust you are both well-rested after lunch?"

"Yessir." Kaldur resisted the urge to salute.

"Good. I have a job for both of you. But first things first. Dick, meet Kaldur Ahm. Kaldur, meet Dick Grayson. You will be working together on this account, and all developments should be reported to me." Wayne nodded at two manila folders on his desk. "Sit down. I'll explain the details to you quickly. If you need any further information or help, you may either ask Mr. Allen or myself for help."

Twenty minutes later, Kaldur walked out feeling rather weak in the knees. He was not an easy man to phase (or so the senior partners at his last firm had said) but Mr. Wayne was a formidable man, and Dick was no idiot either. In fact, he had taken lead in the discussion from the start, asking questions that Kaldur had not even thought to consider. In short, he felt like a newly-minted lawyer all over again, and it was not a pleasant feeling. Nevertheless, since there would be a meeting with LyrenCo's representatives at three-thirty, he would have some time to prepare.

"Hey," Dick nudged him. "See you at three-thirty." Before Kaldur even had time to respond, the other man had suddenly disappeared like a ninja. Looking around in bewilderment, he fought down a rising sense of dread and hurried back to his seat. He had a client meeting to prepare for. Much to his dismay, Dick seemed to have disappeared someplace untraceable.

The meeting went horribly. The clients spent over five minutes asking about his bruise and the rest of the meeting making thinly-veiled barbs in reference to the inferior American legal system. This would have been fine, if not for the fact that he and Dick turned out to have very different opinions on how to handle the impending arbitration session. Dick felt that a more aggressive approach was required, whilst Kaldur argued that it would do no good to begin flinging accusations at this stage. The only saving grace was that Mr. Wayne, as the partner handling the case, was also present, leading to his managing to keep some modicum of peace in the room. The only thing that came out of the meeting, as far as Kaldur could tell, was that the clients would likely request a change of lawyer by close of business today, if not a complete change of firm. Mr. Wayne was predictably most displeased.

"Dick, Kaldur, my office, ten minutes." The two associates swapped looks, both slightly resentful over the other's opposition.

Mr. Wayne returned ten minutes later than expected, signalling them to follow him with a quick jerk of his chin. "Sit," he ordered the pair brusquely. "What happened?" Those sharp blue eyes stared at him with laser-sharp focus. Kaldur hastily explained that there had been a distinct lack of communication after the initial briefing. The older lawyer stared at him for a while longer before looking at Dick. "Is that true?"

Dick, much to Kaldur's astonishment, actually _pouted_ slightly and glanced away again. "It's not like he didn't know what to do," he mumbled. "I didn't think he'd come up with such a radically different idea." Mr. Wayne sighed.

"Dick, you can't just disappear into thin air and not talk to anyone. This is precisely why I put you and Kaldur together. Kaldur is new; he needs a little extra help. And you may be intelligent, but no man is an island. You cannot just assume that your partner will read your mind." Mr. Wayne turned to look at Kaldur again. "But I also expected better from you, Kaldur. I am aware that you may need a little extra time to adjust to your surroundings, but I refuse to believe that you were unable to do any better. I hope this time was just teething pains. And Dick, you need to explain your plans better. Strategies only work when all the parties are aware of what's expected." Dick looked as if he were about to say something else, but the other man simply glared and the younger lawyer backed down hastily. "Go do some brainstorming, preferably together, and then let me know what you really think would best help our clients."

Once out the door, Dick turned a furious glare on him. "What were you doing?" He demanded angrily. "It was obvious that LyrenCo was wronged in the contract! Why on earth were you even talking about contributory negligence?"

Equally sore over the scolding, Kaldur simply glared back. "Why were you pushing for such a provocative argument? Both sides _were_ wrong; Our client should have never started anything without proper written confirmation as previously agreed!"

"Something wrong, gentlemen?" It was Ms. Lance. She coolly looked at the two of them, one eyebrow raised expectantly.

"Not at all," Kaldur managed to grit out. He could feel Dick's undoubtedly-strained smile behind him.

"Then what are you waiting for? I assume Bruce gave you something to do." Recognising a dismissal when he heard one, Kaldur thought it best to beat a hasty retreat, discreetly signalling Dick to follow since the other looked as though he might actually say something.

As they hurried back to their desks to lick their wounds, he heard Dick muttering behind him. "So not aster."

Thankfully, Mr. Allen soon called him in to ask about his first day, chuckling when Kaldur asked if there was anything else he could do to help. "So eager! Honestly, Kaldur, I'd use this week as an adjustment period. I know you're on probation, but trust me, Mr. Wayne's seen a lot more disastrous things than just a client threatening to walk out, and he wouldn't have given you and Dick this job if he didn't think you could handle it. Go home and rest on the matter; it won't do you any good if you're still sore over this afternoon's meeting."

Kaldur returned to his desk and looked around; although a few of the secretaries had gone home, most of the associates' offices were still lit up and the hum of machines and people talking alike still filled the entire office. Then someone knocked at the door.

He looked up to see Dick leaning against the doorframe, thin wire-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. His memory kicked in and Kaldur felt like a complete idiot. "Robin?" He asked incredulously. Dick smirked and sauntered in with all the entitled grace of a cat.

"That was hilarious!" The other chortled. Kaldur noted idly that his laugh was distinctive; impish, even. "I was wondering how long it would take you to work it out!"

"I—"

Robin continued laughing and soon Kaldur was forced to smile a little too. In spite of its…unique qualities, the younger associate's laughter was infectious and there was no malicious intent. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Robin cackled again. "I was going to, but there was just so much to do what with LyrenCo and my other cases – don't think I've forgiven you for this afternoon by the way – and there was just never a good time! Besides, what was I going to say? 'Hi, I was at that party where you got punched out by Superboy, remember me?'"

"Superboy?"

The other shrugged. "It's what we call Conner, since he does look rather like that old comic book character, don't you think?" Kaldur decided not to inquire further, although he privately thought that anyone who went around punching others at the slightest hint of suspicion did not appear to be very 'super'. "So how about dinner then? It'll probably be takeout from downstairs, but they do a great Spaghetti Carbonara." At Kaldur's wary silence, the younger man huffed again. "We can give that case another go, since today was clearly heavy on the dis, light on the aster."

"…What?"

"'Disaster', formed from two components: 'dis' and 'aster'. If 'disaster' is bad, 'aster' must be good. So logically, today's meeting with the LyrenCo reps was totally not aster. Therefore, heavy on the 'dis'." Kaldur could not bring himself to strike down Robin's appalling abuse of the English language, seeing how proudly the other smiled, and simply chose to nod. "So how about it? Carbonara, the computer and my sparkling company?"

"Why not?"

They spent at least an hour and a half sitting in Kaldur's office, ploughing through creamy pasta and discussing everything from the LyrenCo arbitration to housing prices in London. "So would you prefer I call you Robin or Dick?" Robin thought about it for a while, absently fiddling with his glasses.

"Doesn't make a difference to me. All my friends call me Robin though." Kaldur did not miss the slight emphasis on 'friends' and made a mental note to call him Dick from now on. He did not want to assume familiarity where someone clearly did not expect it, and Dick had probably only introduced himself as Robin since he'd been among friends then.

They worked until 10pm that night, both glued to their phones as they discussed the best way to present LyrenCo's case at the arbitration in three months' time. Documents needed to be gathered, stories prepared and most importantly, they needed to choose the right people to present their case.

"Kaldur?" Kaldur glanced up from the briefing folder to see Mr. Allen in the doorway, briefcase in hand. "Still working?"

"Ah, yes," the other replied. "I was just working on the LyrenCo case with Dick." Mr. Allen smiled.

"Glad to hear it. Don't work too late now; tomorrow's going to be a whole new day! Have a good evening." With those words, the friendly man left and Kaldur sighed. Perhaps Mr. Allen was right. After all, he and Dick had prepared a suitable plan of attack for Mr. Wayne, and now all that was left to be done was to prepare LyrenCo's documents and make sure they were very clear on what had happened during the course of their agreement with HIVE Industries.

"Dick, I think I'm going to head out now," Kaldur told his friend. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure thing," the other casually commented. "See ya."

Getting home proved fairly simple, now that he knew where the tube station was located. However, as Kaldur stepped onto the train, he felt someone behind him and whipped around only to find Dick grinning at him again. "I'm staying at Wally's," he announced.

They made their way back to King's Cross and the house, Dick leading the way for most of it since everything looked so different at night. Kaldur was privately thankful for the fact that he'd eaten at the office, since it meant he could jump into the shower and go to bed that much quicker. As they got to the third floor, Dick waved at him. "Night, Kaldur. Hope that bruise gets better soon." Kaldur sighed; the next time he saw Conner, he would make sure to give as good as he got.

"Goodnight, Dick." As he went up the final flight of stairs, he heard Dick hollering into Wally's corridor. 'Honey, I'm home!" He could not repress a smile at the loud squawk and Dick's signature cackle. After a quick shower and his nightly routine, he collapsed into bed and fell asleep, dreaming of a crime-fighting squad where Wally had super-speed, Dick was a master of technology and he had webbed fingers and control over water.

The next two days went by much more smoothly and before he knew it, it was Friday afternoon. It also transpired that Friday was what Dick (and most of the younger associates and trainees) called 'Prank Day'. That afternoon, it appeared that someone had rigged up the lobby speakers to play some sugary remake of 'Kiss the Girl' every time someone walked in. This proved to be a particularly unfortunate choice of song (or perhaps that was the point) when Mr. Kent and Mr. Luthor walked in. Amy, the pretty receptionist, did however later note that Mr. Luthor did not seem to mind the music half as much as Mr. Kent did.

Dick stopped by Kaldur's office at 6 o'clock sharp, holding his jacket and briefcase. "Come on," he laughed, "We have to get going. You're still coming tonight, aren't you?" At the older associate's blank stare, he clarified the question. "Wally's party? You know, the one he's having to make up for the last time?"

"Of – of course." Kaldur had in truth completely forgotten about the entire thing, although he did still have a spare bottle of red wine and the lemon cheesecake from last week stashed in his apartment. "I might be a little late though." Dick scoffed.

"Please. Are you really that busy?"

"I have a few documents to file."

"Clerical work."

"LyrenCo still needs to call me back about their shipping records from the 3rd March onward—"

"They sent an email twenty minutes ago saying they'd courier the documents over on Monday morning."

"I need to make sure Raven's copies of that negligence suit are properly checked."

"She's gone home, won't make a difference. Look, just admit that there's nothing more to do and come on already! Wally's been excited all week!"

"And just how would you know that?"

Dick rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Unless you just don't want to come at all?" Kaldur decided to start his weekend with a bang. After all, hadn't Mr. Allen encouraged him to take things easy this week?

Kaldur arrived in front of Wally's door at approximately 6.32pm, apologising profusely for his lateness. Dick simply ignored the apology, grabbed the cheesecake and wine and proceeded to the kitchen. Wally was nowhere to be found, and Kaldur could only imagine that his neighbour had been held up at work. He also found it of interest that Dick appeared so comfortable in the flat, and knew exactly which cupboard held tea and which cups.

A knock came from the door, and since Dick appeared to be busy looking after something on the stove, Kaldur hastened to answer the door. He found himself staring awkwardly at Conner. _Huh. He really does look like Superman. And Clark Kent. _Then their eyes met and for lack of a better description, it was as though time stood still. For his part, Conner seemed equally mesmerised, one hand carefully reaching out to touch the still-healing bruise on his face. The slight ache brought him back to reality and Kaldur thanked whatever gods were listening for his dark skin as a flush burned its way across his skin. He looked over and realised that behind Conner stood a slender blonde girl with slightly-Asian features. She was smirking and the dark man just _knew _she was thinking something inappropriate, likely featuring himself and Conner. He resisted the urge to move protectively in front of the other.

"I'm Kaldur," he said politely. "Wally's neighbour. Please," he hastily stood aside, "come in." He made a move to help the girl with her bags, but she didn't seem to be having trouble and appeared to prefer bringing them to the kitchen herself.

"They need to go into the oven and I figure Robin's busy enough," she explained. Kaldur tried not to feel too much like an outsider as the nickname rolled easily off the girl's lips. She smirked at him. "Nice to meet you again, Kaldur. I'm Artemis." With that brisk introduction, she headed off to unload her burden in the kitchen, much to Dick's audible confusion. This left Conner and Kaldur staring awkwardly at one another in the hallway.

"I'm very sorry about punching you," Conner blurted out. Kaldur could not help but notice just how much the other resembled a kicked puppy. "I thought – well, I mean, sometimes you hear these awful stories, and everybody know you only need to make a mistake once to regret it for the rest of your life or just never think about it again, and—" He huffed, obviously running out of words to express himself. Kaldur gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile and gently pushed the distraught man over to the couch.

"Don't worry about it. It's healing up just fine."

"Are you sure?" Conner stared up at him from the sofa and the other man tried not to let himself get swept away again in those sky-blue eyes.

"Positive. I'm Kaldur, by the way." _Really smooth, Kaldur,_ he thought to himself with a sigh. "I'm Wally's neighbour."

Conner smiled slightly. "Yes, I remember bringing you upstairs. Have you finished unpacking yet?"

"No, not really. I haven't had time since my job started just yesterday and I had some last-minute things to take care of on Tuesday."

"Did…did you have to go to work with that bruise?" Conner looked so utterly repentant that Kaldur hastened to reassure him, adding that no one had seemed to comment on his face apart from a client.

"What do you do for a living?" Conner asked curiously.

"I'm a lawyer…Di—uh, Dick's my colleague, actually." Conner blinked.

"So you work at Wayne & Co. then?"

"Yes." Conner smiled and Kaldur temporarily lost his breath at how handsome the other was. Sure, tall dark and brooding was good too, but Conner smiling? The lawyer groaned at himself; knowing his luck with romantic relationships, Conner would probably turn out to be straight and have a gorgeous live-in girlfriend.

"Robin's always telling stories about his bosses," Conner commented. "It must be fun to work there." Something in the tone of his voice was almost wistful and Kaldur wanted to know more about this strange man.

"Where do you work then?" Conner looked faintly embarrassed but stared defiantly at Kaldur, as though expecting a negative reaction.

"I'm a mechanic."

Kaldur smiled, attempting to put the other at ease. "That sounds good. I've never been too good with machines myself; every time I had to drive my brother's old car, I'd pray nothing would happen first because I wouldn't have the first clue about what to do." Conner's features relaxed a little at that.

"What kind of car is it?" The other asked curiously. Kaldur felt a little embarrassed.

"I'm not too sure. But it's not like it matters, since I didn't exactly have it shipped over here either." Conner nodded thoughtfully.

"That's true. So, uh…" He looked down at his hands and Kaldur wondered just what the other wanted to ask that was so difficult for him to say. "I know you probably get this a lot, but what's LA like?" The other finally blurted out. Kaldur settled into the couch. Talking about home, he could do.

The conversation flowed smoothly from there on, the two men completely engrossed with each other until they were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. "It smells amazing in here!" That was definitely Wally. With some reluctance, since Kaldur had been immensely enjoying his conversation with Conner and they'd both relaxed quite a bit, the dark man stood up and went to greet his host.

Wally was predictably delighted to see Kaldur and promptly pulled him into a quick hug. "Kaldur! It's great to see you! And you're not injured! Well, injured further, I should say. I'm sorry for coming late; my academic tutor pulled me into her office to discuss my thesis and I just couldn't run away!" Artemis laughed from the kitchen.

"Don't worry about it, Wally. Dinner'll be ready soon, so you won't need to do a thing."

Wally beamed. "Sweet! Robin, what'd you cook?"

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "How do you know I didn't cook?" Wally rolled his eyes at the blonde.

"There's no burning smell. Thus, you had nothing to do with dinner." With those words, he dashed off toward the kitchen, presumably to bother Robin. Kaldur turned to see Megan and a dark-haired girl standing by the doorway, the latter carrying a pale purple bag.

"I'm Kaldur," he said with a smile. "It's good to see you again, Megan. Thank you for your help last time; I'm not sure I would have recovered as quickly!" The pretty redhead laughed.

"I'm so happy to see you came, Kaldur! I was wondering if maybe you wouldn't want to, since that was a rather unpleasant misunderstanding and everything."

"What happened?" The dark-haired girl asked. She turned to smile at Kaldur. "I'm Zatanna, by the way. Nice to meet you, Kaldur."

"The pleasure's all mine. I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier; a bruised jaw will do that."

Zatanna laughed. "All is forgiven, provided you tell me what happened. It sounds like a good story."

Kaldur smiled wryly. "It is. Or rather, it's funnier in hindsight. Here; let me take your bag. Shall I just leave it in the kitchen?"

"Please do," Megan chirped. "They're cookies from my bakery and there's another bottle of white wine in there from Zee."

"Certainly." Kaldur quickly dropped off the items in the rather crowded kitchen and retreated to the living room, where he found Artemis and Conner shouting at the television. It appeared that there was a soccer (football, Kaldur reminded himself, _football_) match on. A few minutes' observation told him that Conner was an ardent supporter of Arsenal, whilst Artemis seemed set on egging the opposing team on just for the sake of riling the man up. Kaldur fought back a pang of jealousy; he had no right to be jealous of Artemis, after all, and Conner was presumably straight.

Megan and Zatanna turned out to be pleasant conversationalists. Megan had her own business selling pastries, whilst Zatanna worked as a PR agent. "It's nothing big," the other explained with a smile, "but if you're into small indie bands, let me know and I'll get you tickets."

Wally came by after fifteen minutes or so, complaining that Dick had banished him from the kitchen. Judging from everyone's laughs and Artemis' teasing remarks, this too was a common occurrence. Kaldur excused himself and went over to Wally, not wanting to ignore his host.

"Kaldur! What can I help you with?"

"Nothing, Wally. Thank you for your invitation tonight. It was most kind of you to have another party; I'm sure you're very busy."

The cheerful man laughed. "Not at all; perks of being a student, really." Kaldur smiled.

"What do you study?"

"Physics. Or, well, Theoretical Physics now, since I'm aiming for my doctorate." He smiled sheepishly.

"Where are you studying then?"

"UCL – University College London. I did my undergrad at Johns Hopkins and my Master's at Oxford, so I thought it'd be good to go see the big city." Wally grinned. "Besides, when else am I going to get the chance to play in London?"

"But you're American, right?" Wally laughed.

"Sure thing; my parents are still in Missouri so I go see them from time to time."

"Isn't it difficult?" Wally shrugged.

"Not really. I keep myself busy and London's an exciting city to be in. Plus, Dick's here with me so it feels like I never really left home. And Skype really does help."

"How did you meet everyone here?"

Wally grinned. "Well, I'm a part time physical trainer at Flash, so that's where I met Artemis. She's an MMA expert, for the record, so if you're into combat she's your girl. And I'm not just saying that because I work for the same company. Don't let her know though." Kaldur made a note to check out Flash once his monthly membership expired. "Artemis and Zee are great friends, so one night we were going to grab a bite and Zee joined us, and things just kind of went from there. Megan owns a bakery – I'm sure she told you that – and I think she just comes by since she doesn't want to lose my patronage. I probably account for half her profits alone. Robin met Conner at a technology convention or something and I think he just got that 'lost puppy' vibe off the guy. Which is hilarious, since Conner's, well, you've felt his punch, I don't think I need to say any more. So what about you then? There's that friend of yours; the crazy guy with red hair." Kaldur imagined Roy's face upon being described as 'the crazy guy with red hair' and could not bite back a small laugh.

"Roy's one of my oldest friends, and actually let me know that there was an opening at the firm. I hadn't intended to come at first, but when they made me an offer I thought it would be good to have a change of scenery. I actually work at the same law firm as Dick." Wally's green eyes lit up in understanding.

"Oh! No wonder he kept asking if you were coming tonight." He glanced fondly at the kitchen. "I had to talk him out of devising a vegetarian menu for tonight, since he somehow got it into his head that you might be into organic foods and whatnot since you're from LA." At Kaldur's bemused stare, the redhead shrugged. "I know, right? Even I'm not too sure how his mind works sometimes."

"Well, I do enjoy organic hummous." Kaldur only barely managed to prevent himself from bursting out into laughter at Wally's horrified look. "And I am seriously considering going vegan." Wally looked so distraught at this that Kaldur could not bear to continue the charade any further and patted the other's shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry about it. I was only joking."

"Some joke," the other growled. "See if I ever invite you over for a dinner party again." Kaldur spotted a small movement out the corner of his eye and turned to see Conner staring at him. The other, realising that he'd been noticed, blushed slightly and turned back to watching the soccer game.

Dinner turned out to be a gigantic lasagne and enough salad to feed a small army, and Kaldur momentarily wondered if they were perhaps expecting more people to arrive. He soon realised that all that food was necessary; Wally and Conner both ate like they hadn't seen a proper meal for days. "This is amazing," Wally mumbled around a mouthful of half-chewed lasagne. Dick beamed whilst Artemis sighed and turned away in disgust.

"Didn't anyone teach you not to talk with your mouth full?" Wally beamed and chewed loudly, making sure to treat everyone to a fine view of half-masticated lasagne. Everyone simply pretended not to see anything, although judging from the way Wally suddenly jerked in his chair, Kaldur imagined someone had kicked him under the table.

"Sorry about the walking stomach over there," Artemis said dryly, "He gets a little over-excited at mealtimes, as you can see."

Kaldur smiled politely and asked her about her MMA classes. The blonde girl was predictably excited at the possibility of a new client, and started telling him about the different styles she used to help develop strength, speed and coordination. "Of course," she added quickly, "It's great for toning as well. Though you probably don't need it." Her eyes swept over him appraisingly and Kaldur swore he could hear a growl from somewhere to his left, but did not pay it any heed. It would not do to fall prey to wishful thinking. Not now. Further questions revealed that her gym offered trial classes to interested clients, and Kaldur made a mental note to go and participate in one. He was sure MMA and Muay Thai had some common features.

When they were all finally finished, Megan immediately hopped up and grabbed Conner's arm, dragging him to the kitchen to help her with dessert. Meanwhile, Wally stood up and began clearing off the table efficiently, hands moving so quickly they were almost a blur. Kaldur hastily stood up to help, but Dick shook his head. "Don't worry about it," his colleague advised, "you're the guest tonight."

"Thank you very much for dinner, Dick," Kaldur said immediately. "It was delicious. Where did you learn to cook like that?"

The other man shrugged. "Oh, here and there."

"Don't listen to him," Wally interrupted. "His favourite channel was the Food Network when we were in the US. He still watches Delia Smith and Nigella Lawson."

"Who?" Kaldur felt like an idiot as everyone grinned, obviously getting the joke.

"Britain's two favourite homemakers," Zatanna supplied helpfully.

Kaldur tried to imagine a young Dick Grayson watching Food Network, but failed. "No Martha Stewart, then?" Wally found this hilarious and almost dropped the entire stack of dirty dishes laughing. Dick ducked his head and muttered darkly.

"It's therapeutic, okay? I had a long day."

"Of course you did," Wally cackled before heading off to the kitchen.

"Wally, are you sure you don't—" Kaldur stood up to help his host.

"Stay put." Wally somehow managed to balance the stack of dishes and point at Kaldur, all the while squinting in what the dark man believed to be an attempt at a threatening manner. "You're a guest here, so don't worry about anything. Just sit, relax and enjoy the company. Well, insofar as Artemis Killjoy here will let you." The girl simply rolled her eyes and ignored him.

"Here." Conner and Megan had returned, both bearing several plates of dessert between them. Kaldur blinked up at the dark-haired man and looked down at his plate of cheesecake, with three cookies perched precariously on the edge of the plate. "The walnut cookies are the best," Conner told him solemnly.

"Thanks." Kaldur felt a hot flush work its way up the back of his neck as Dick snickered at something Artemis whispered. "I'll bear that in mind." He was thankful that Roy was not present; he just knew that his friend would have something to say about the entire affair.

Conner smiled awkwardly at him before hastily turning away to presumably get more cookies. Once everyone was seated again, Kaldur noticed that he was the only one who had three cookies. Megan smiled at him and held a finger to her lips in the universal sign for a secret.

After dessert, everyone simply leaned back into their chairs and gave a satisfied sigh. Even Wally appeared sated, eyes lazily flicking back and forth between Dick and Zatanna, who appeared determined to eradicate the use of prefixes from the English language in a way that he was sure would make his English teacher cry. Megan was happily describing the new oven she'd ordered for the shop to Artemis, who was simply nodding along sleepily. Conner was meanwhile poking at the last few crumbs of his cheesecake, eyes focused on the plate like it held the meaning of life.

Kaldur slowly made his way around to the other side of the table, wincing as the food sat heavily in his stomach. He would have to log in some serious time at the gym tomorrow. "Hey, Conner." The dark-haired man looked up at him. "So, uh, who won the football match?" Judging from the way the other's eyes lit up, Kaldur guessed that he'd stumbled onto one of the other man's passions.

They spent the rest of the evening comparing British sports with American sports, Conner asking about American football whilst Kaldur learned about the intricacies of rugby and soccer. Just as they'd moved on from sports to hobbies in general, Wally wandered over with a brightly-coloured box in one hand, holding it aloft like it was an Oscar and he a movie star. "All right everyone," he shouted happily, "Let's play…Articulate!" He quickly looked over his friends and beamed. "I'll be the referee, since we've got an odd number." He waved away all the protests and gestured imperiously. "Pair up, pair up everyone!"

Kaldur and Conner found themselves stuffed in one corner of the living room, watching in amusement as Wally and Artemis squabbled over who would get to be the referee, Dick egging them both on mercilessly. Finally, Artemis won the fight and Wally hastily latched onto Robin, leaving Megan and Zatanna to pair up. "Not that I don't love you, Meggie, but Robin's my bro." Megan simply laughed it off, but Kaldur did note a slight tension in the dark-haired man's spare frame.

The rest of the evening was spent in laughter and much cursing, with Dick and Wally soundly trouncing everyone else. One barely had to begin speaking before the other would immediately chime in with an answer, Dick crowing with laughter every time someone else hesitated. Conner appeared to have a competitive streak and clapped Kaldur on the shoulder when they finished dead last. "Don't worry," the other man said, "We'll get them next time."

"Hello Megan! It's nine o'clock!" Everyone blinked at the redheaded baker and then Artemis let out a squeal not wholly unlike that of a thirteen-year old girl before scrambling for Wally's remote control. "Oh my God, Supernatural!" Wally groaned and buried his face in his hands, but Kaldur noticed he made no effort to change the channel or even take the remote control.

Kaldur let the television flicker in front of him, absently leaning into the couch and giving in to the heaviness suddenly settling over his eyelids. And if Conner happened to make a good pillow, well, that was what friends did, right? Besides, the other man didn't seem to object.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: **

Disclaimer: I do not own YJ in any way, shape or form.

Rating: PG-13

A/N: Hi again! Thank you for your lovely comments and feedback; I am aware that there are many questions out there about Dick and Wally's relationship and various plot points. However, all will be revealed in due course. I hope you're enjoying the story so far and thank you for your support and encouragement!

* * *

Kaldur slowly opened his eyes, slightly disoriented at the fact that he seemed to be in a sitting position rather than in his bed. Someone laughed beside him and he slowly turned to see Conner staring fixedly at the screen, eyes focused on the credits. He also noted that he appeared to be leaning rather closer to the other man than before, and hastily straightened up. Dick was perched on the small armchair to the side and turned to give him a small wink, making the other man blush again.

Wally broke the sleepy silence with a loud yawn and stretch, standing up quickly to change the channel. "And there goes another hour of my life," he remarked. "How do you watch this stuff every week?"

"I didn't hear you complaining," Artemis retorted quickly. "And I wasn't the one sniffling when Dean died on a Wednesday."

"Lies," thundered Wally in the exaggerated manner of a Southern Baptist minister. "All lies!" He stuffed another cookie into his mouth and waved the plate around, scattering crumbs everywhere and causing Dick to jump up. "More cookies, anyone?" Everyone made sleepy noises and the redhead beamed. "Good – more for me!"

Zatanna slowly stood up and stretched, blue eyes looking around. "I think I'll be going now," she said cheerfully. "The office wants me in to work on an account tomorrow, and I've got to get up early."

"Where do you work?" Kaldur asked.

"Angel."

Kaldur vaguely remembered walking up the road to Angel with Roy when they'd first gone to look at his flat. "That's quite close to here, isn't it?"

Zatanna smiled. "Yes. I'm living out by Brockley though, so it's a bit of a distance."

Kaldur could not remember ever having seen Brockley on the tube map. "Where's that?"

"It's about an hour's ride out by train."

"You mean…the overground?" Zatanna nodded and turned to roll her eyes at Dick when he chuckled.

"Isn't it far?" Zatanna shrugged.

"Yes, but it's quite a pleasant place to live. And it's much cheaper than living in the City." Kaldur supposed it was like living out in the suburbs; cheaper, but with an extra commute built in.

"Will you be able to catch the last train out?" Dick asked.

"Yes; I should be able to make it to London Bridge in time. The trains run until midnight or so, and it's only just past ten."

"Sure you don't want me to, uh, drive you?"

Zatanna gave him a surprised look. "Aren't you staying over tonight?"

Kaldur was prevented from listening in on the rest of the conversation by a heavy hand gently brushing his arm. He turned around to see Conner, coat in hand and a small smile on his face. "It was good to meet you properly, Kaldur," the other told him carefully. "And I'm very sorry about punching you last time. Perhaps we could…meet again. As friends?"

"Of course. Here; I'll give you my mobile number." Much to Kaldur's surprise, Conner immediately whipped out a shiny new Blackberry; he'd pegged the other man for a no-frills sort. Seeing the look on his face, Conner simply shrugged.

"It came with the contract," he explained.

"Right." As they exchanged numbers, Kaldur could not help but feel a thrill of anticipation run over him. It would be good to see Conner again, although part of him whispered that he really should be careful. "So where do you work?"

Conner gave him a small smile with a spark of pride in his eyes. "Near Camden."

"Is that close to Canary Wharf?"

The other man shook his head with a smile. "It's closer to here, actually. I still have to take the bus down though, since it's on the far side. Perhaps you could come by, since Camden's an interesting neighbourhood. It's one of those places you visit after you've gone to all the touristy places; you know, the Tower of London, the London Eye…" He trailed off, seemingly startled at how much he'd said. Kaldur got the feeling Conner was a man of few words.

"Perhaps I could come by over the weekend or something?"

Conner brightened up. "That'd be good. I'm off on Saturdays, so I could maybe show you around then. I'll let you know sometime next week?" He raised his phone. Kaldur immediately nodded and then the two lapsed into a comfortable silence as they watched Dick say goodbye to everyone else.

Megan stepped over to Conner and Kaldur, giving both men a bright smile. "Kaldur, here's the card for my bakery. Maybe you could come by sometime!" The lawyer nodded immediately, smiling his thanks. A glance at the address made him raise an eyebrow.

"South Kensington? That's a nice area." He remembered Roy telling him about it over dinner at a Lebanese restaurant.

Megan beamed proudly. "Isn't it? And it's just opposite the V&A, so you can't miss it."

"I'll let you know if I drop by. The cookies were absolutely delicious."

"It's my pleasure. Come by soon, okay? We have an Autumn promotion coming up soon! Anyway, I have to be going; I've got to open up the shop tomorrow. Bye!" With those words she rushed out the door, thanking Dick and Wally on her way out.

Artemis clapped Kaldur on the shoulder as sh made her way to the door. "Let me know if you're interested in coming by Flash," she said. "I'll get you a good trial deal. And Conner," she smirked, "why don't you come by too? The gym is pretty hard to find, and I'm sure Kaldur would appreciate the help. See you!"

Kaldur now turned to Wally and Dick, who were both standing in the corridor watching with some amusement. "Don't mind her," the redhead commented, "she always talks like that. But here," he produced a business card for Flash, "now you won't have any problems finding the gym. And you can just ask for us."

"That sounds good."

"See you around then, neighbour! Thanks for coming. I hope we didn't scare you too much," Wally joked.

"Absolutely not. Thank you for dinner and for inviting me. I enjoyed myself very much."

Dick cackled. "No need to be formal, Kaldur. We're all friends here. Listen, if you ever feel like you need anything, just let Wally or me know, okay?"

"That's very kind of you. Thank you."

The younger man waved his hand dismissively. "Don't be silly. It's tough moving to a new city. Here; I'll give you my number." As they too exchanged numbers, Kaldur felt a heavy hand rest carefully on his shoulder. He turned to see Conner looking at him.

"I'll see you around then," the other man said. "Good night. Dick, Wally, thank you for dinner."

Dick grinned. "Sure thing, Supes. See you next time, if not sooner!"

Conner nodded at Kaldur and Dick as he made his way out. Wally looked amused. "He's a bit quiet and a little too serious, but he's not a bad guy."

Kaldur shrugged. "We had a good conversation."

"I'll say." Kaldur shot Dick a sharp look, but the other man looked so innocent that to accuse him of anything right now would be foolishness.

"Thanks for dinner again, Wally. I'll let you know when I decide to have my own housewarming party." The redhead grinned.

"Sweet! You know where to find me." Kaldur laughed.

"Indeed. And Dick, you're welcome to come too when I actually unpack." The dark-haired man smiled.

"I'm looking forward to it. See you on Monday then, if not sooner."

"Goodnight. And thanks again for inviting me."

Wally beamed. "Pleasure's all mine. It's good to have you around, neighbour."

Kaldur fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Saturday morning started off the same as usual, with Kaldur puttering around determined to unpack more of his things. Now that he owed Wally and Dick dinner, he would have to get things sorted out in the house much quicker than usual. Moreover, he needed to ring up the phone company to see when they were coming to install Internet. His case volume was increasing rapidly and sooner or later he would need to work online, if only to keep on top of his e-mails.

Thankfully, unpacking took less time than he'd anticipated. As he hauled the last of the cardboard boxes to the door, Kaldur let out a small sigh of relief. At least he'd have something to tell his mother, and he would also now be able to cook a proper meal when he had the time.

Kaldur was just putting away his cleaning supplies when his phone rang. It was Roy. "I'm coming over now."

The dark man blinked in surprise. "What?"

Roy huffed impatiently. "I'm coming to your place. Knowing you, you'll be doing something ridiculous like cleaning your flat. Nobody should be cleaning their flat on a Saturday. And yes, I understand that you have to unpack, but there are many, better things you could be doing." Used to his friend's abrupt manner, Kaldur simply closed his eyes and thanked the heavens that he enjoyed early mornings.

"Where are you now?"

"Walking up the road. I'll be there in five minutes."

Kaldur was airing out the flat when he heard an almighty crash and a string of colourful curses coming from the street. As it was a quiet road, and he was on the top floor, he slowly looked out one of the living room windows to see Wally and Roy. It appeared that his neighbour had dashed out the front door and accidentally knocked his friend over, causing the other to land flat on the unforgiving pavement, leading to the aforementioned cursing. Roy huffily stood up and dusted himself off, entering the house and clearly ignoring Wally. Kaldur immediately made a mental note to apologise to his neighbour; probably with some pie. He'd always found baking soothing, and what better way to take advantage of all the discounts on fruit right now than make a pie?

Roy hammered on the door in his usual abrupt manner and stormed inside, growling about idiots who couldn't look where they were going and why were people so clumsy these days? Kaldur sighed and let his friend grumble, sticking a cup of coffee into the other's hands. The best thing to do with a grouchy Roy was to ply him with coffee and let him finish his dark mutterings. "So, Kaldur," the other said, "what plans did you have for today?"

"I thought I'd check up on when the phone company's supposed to come and re-connect me to the rest of the world. Mera will also be expecting a phone call, although I've been texting her regularly so she won't get too worried."

"Oh? And what about social events? None? Huh; I thought you lawyers were supposed to be a hard-partying lot."

"I was out last night, actually." Roy put his coffee down and stared hard at Kaldur.

"Out?" One corner of his friend's mouth curled up into a sly smile. "With who, if I may ask?"

Kaldur looked back at him serenely. "My neighbour. You met him downstairs." He smirked as Roy winced and looked around as though Wally might appear out of nowhere.

Roy leaned forward and gently placed a hand on the other's wrist. "Kaldur," his friend began in mock earnest, "I know it's good right now, and I know you two have an undeniable connection, but you have to remember: he's just so. Very. _Young_."

"Don't be disgusting. He invited me over for dinner with some of his friends."

Roy raised an eyebrow. "You mean his friends, one of whom punched you in the face? How is that bruise doing, by the way?"

"It's fine. And yes, the same people. Conner kept apologising. And before you get angry, he is a perfectly nice man."

The redhead smirked. "I must meet this Conner soon. I need to congratulate him on landing such a solid punch. And then ask him for boxing tips."

Kaldur raised his eyes to the ceiling. "So did you just come to bother me, or is there a purpose to your visit?"

"I just thought you'd want to do something other than unpack and clean. But then, this is you we're talking about."

"As a matter of fact, I was about to go out for lunch. And then stop by the supermarket to get some groceries."

Roy smirked. "Sure you don't want to stop by Spitalfields again? I saw you lusting after those vinyl records."

Kaldur had almost forgotten about the records until his friend mentioned them. "Thank you for reminding me. I suppose I'll have to treat you to dinner too then?"

"Well, I think a drink at the pub will work. Come on then, let's get moving before I die of old age."

They got to Spitalfields Market just a little after one, where Roy immediately dragged him to a small Spanish restaurant. Kaldur almost immediately developed an addiction to the chorizo and after a very satisfying lunch, he ambled over to the record shop. Much to his surprise, there was a vinyl record of The Queen is Dead, and Kaldur felt it appropriate to purchase a British record to commemorate his first week on the job in London. Roy snickered something that sounded remarkably like 'emo hipster', but the other paid him no heed.

It turned out that Roy had other reasons in mind for dragging Kaldur to Spitalfields Market: it was his sister's birthday soon, and he wanted to get her something decent since he would be unable to make it back home in time. He had already narrowed his search down to two stores, but needed 'some help' deciding on where to go. "You're good at that sort of thing; she still has that painting you bought her four years ago hanging in the corridor."

Kaldur was horrified by the first store Roy took him to. The place itself was sandwiched in between two halal fast food restaurants and smelled like a bizarre combination of patchouli and fried chicken. The shifty-eyed sales clerk did absolutely nothing to alleviate his fears and when Roy cheerfully pointed out a chunky silver necklace that looked like some sort of ancient cursed artefact from a B-horror movie, Kaldur firmly put his foot down. "Roy, you cannot give Emily that necklace."

"Why not? She's into mystical stuff and Farouk over there says it helps mitigate negative energies."

"It looks old. And tacky."

"Vintage!"

"It looks like it belongs in an underground cave guarded by members of the undead."

"Mystical!"

"It's downright ugly. Show me the second place."

Thankfully, the second place was much better. It was in Covent Garden, for one, so that already set a certain standard. This time it was an earring and necklace set from the weekend market, handmade by the stall owner (or so the label claimed). Nevertheless, it was very pretty and the sparkling blue stones would go well with her pale complexion and blue eyes. "This one."

Roy grumbled under his breath but paid for the item anyway. "I still don't understand why you hated that first necklace so much," he commented as they left the market.

"I believe I made myself quite clear."

"Whatever. You're just jealous I never put that much effort into giving you a present." They slowly headed for Leicester Square, where Roy assured him there would be dinner and a number of bars and pubs where they could go to talk. "You still owe me that drink, after all."

They ate at one of the many Chinese restaurants littering the street, surrounded by chattering diners and too-bright lights. Roy grinned at him over a plate of sweet-and-sour pork and asked, "So how was work?"

Kaldur shrugged. "Challenging. I feel like a fresh graduate all over again," he confessed. "I spent my first day being told off for failing to handle a client meeting regarding arbitration properly." He could not but smile when he remembered the looks on the representatives' faces when he'd walked into the room and introduced himself. "On the other hand, I imagine I looked quite…rough. I think the clients were wondering if they'd been sent the wrong person." That got a smile out of his friend.

"You do the 'tough black bodyguard' routine?" Kaldur raised an eyebrow in reply, letting the other laugh as much as he wanted.

They headed down to a nearby pub that looked incredibly busy; so busy, in fact, that they found themselves jammed at a small corner table with five students. It was soon revealed that Saturday night was Quiz Night, and Kaldur could see the competitive spark light up in Roy's eyes. Although he himself had never been one for trivia, he raised his hand when one of the bar staff came around and asked for a quiz sheet, digging out five pounds to pay for entry. He figured it was a way of repaying his friend for everything he'd done.

Aside from a slight kerfuffle when they were asked for their team name, Kaldur thought the entire night had been rather fun. They'd come in third out of six teams, but considering how many of the questions revolved around British pop culture he figured they held their own well enough, even if Roy glared at the winning team for the rest of the night and spent another fifteen minutes giving Kaldur a rundown of all the pub quizzes in the neighbourhood. At least he'd have someplace to bring Wally and the others to besides his flat.

The pub closed at midnight sharp, bar staff making their way around the small space to gently remind patrons not to leave anything behind. Roy and Kaldur slowly made their way back out onto the street, blinking as their eyes slowly adjusted to the dim glow of Leicester Square at midnight. "Probably have to hail a cab," Roy rasped next to him. "You're welcome to stay over. It'll save the hassle of going two places." The alcohol had loosened his friend up a little, softened the hard edges that Kaldur had come to associate with his old friend.

"I don't think it would make much of a difference." Roy huffed a laugh against his ear in reply and said nothing more as Kaldur attempted to attract the attention of a taxi. Thankfully, they were soon in a black cab and headed to Shoreditch; Kaldur had insisted that the driver first go there so that he could make sure his friend would be all right. As soon as they staggered into the small apartment though, Kaldur dimly felt himself stumble as he managed to get Roy into bed, the other chuckling and pulling at him. The last thing he remembered was Roy mumbling something about a sleepover and then he too fell asleep.

Sunday morning started with Kaldur flailing around hopelessly as he looked for his phone, which turned out to be ringing merrily in his jacket pocket. Roy simply swore and burrowed deeper into the blankets, ignoring the noise altogether. It turned out to be Conner and in spite of himself, Kaldur smiled.

"Hello?" He winced at how raspy he sounded.

"Uh…Kaldur?"

"Conner, how are you?" Kaldur just knew that there was a small, soothing smile spreading over his lips. Garth called it his therapist face; the one that told people he was listening attentively to every word they were saying and only had their best interests at heart.

"I'm fine. Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Kaldur hastily made his way into the living room so as not to disturb his friend. "I just had a late night. Is something the matter?"

"Not at all." This was followed by an uneasy chuckle. "I, um, was wondering if you had any free time today? I could show you around Camden…you know, if you had time."

Kaldur groaned quietly to himself. "Conner, I'm not sure I could make it out to see you in time. I'm…with a friend at the moment." There was a long silence and then he heard something like a quiet exhale of breath.

"That's okay." Conner's voice was as flat as ever, but it seemed just a little quieter. "You're probably really busy anyway. I'll see you around." Before Kaldur could reply, there was a click and the dial tone sounded in his ear. The dark man groaned quietly and decided to go for coffee. He figured both he and Roy would need it soon.

For all his quiet, steadfast nature, Kaldur's mind did not do well when it had nothing to focus on. It needed constant stimulus. Unfortunately, it also did not slow down thanks to a slight hangover and a late night. As such, by the time Roy made it into the kitchen, lured there by the smell of coffee and bacon, Kaldur had worked himself up into a quiet frenzy over Conner's call. "I should have told him yes," the other said mournfully, staring at Roy with those pale green eyes. The redhead stared at him for a moment before deciding that this would have to wait until he'd properly rejoined the world of the living. He helped himself to some breakfast and a massive mug of coffee, holding up a hand every time Kaldur tried to talk. Whatever the problem was, it could wait.

"Okay," Roy finally said. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Conner."

"Conner?" Roy had to do a little mind-searching before he came up with anyone who fit the bill. "The guy who thought you were a stalker and punched you in the face?"

"Yes. He invited me up to Camden today. But I was tired, and I had a headache, and oh my God Roy why didn't I just say yes!" Yes, Kaldur had obviously had some time to work himself up suitably.

"Kaldur. Breathe." Roy waited as the other furrowed his brow and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "Right. So, Conner invited you to Camden."

"Yes."

"Today?"

"Yes."

_Silly ass,_ Roy thought. This Conner clearly wasn't too bright if he couldn't tell that Kaldur preferred a carefully planned day to an impromptu outing. "And you said?"

"I said no. But Roy, you don't understand, he was being kind and he was so unsure of himself and I probably just completely insulted him or something."

"Well," Roy said dryly, "I highly doubt being rejected by you would result in instant heartbreak. You're not that good looking. And secondly, he can't have liked you that much if he didn't even bother making some sort of plan."

"But I—"

"If you're that into him, call him up – not now, you idiot" he snapped upon seeing his friend reach for his phone, "later, and tell him that yes, you'd love to go to Camden and see him and maybe have his babies if he treats you to dinner first. Now shut up and have some more coffee." Kaldur shot him an offended look and snatched both mugs off the table so violently it was a wonder nothing broke. Roy sighed to himself and rubbed his temples; he was getting too old for this nonsense. On the other hand, this would make a great story to add to his collection of embarrassing tales about Kaldur Ahm. Hey, someone had to keep one.

Kaldur slowly made his way home after helping Roy wash up, feeling rather foolish but happy at the same time. He might have had a _minor_ crisis over that disastrous phone call but all the same, Conner _called_. That had to be something, right? On the other hand, it was silly to think like this considering he wasn't even sure Conner _liked _men. Maybe he was just trying to help out a newcomer, or maybe Wally had reminded him. He really shouldn't have imposed on Roy like that.

"Hey!" Kaldur jumped a little as a hand suddenly appeared in front of his face. "Good to see you!" It was Dick, sunglasses present as ever and smirk on his face. "How's it going?"

"It's going well. Going home now?" Kaldur asked, looking at the large duffle bag in Dick's other hand.

"Yeah, I need to do the washing every now and again you know." There was a small smile at the corner of the other lawyer's lips. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow." Kaldur nodded in reply.

As Kaldur made his way back up to his apartment, he realised that he still needed to go buy more groceries, and plan out when he could invite Wally and the rest of his friends over for a housewarming party. He flushed slightly at the thought of seeing Conner again, but squashed the feeling ruthlessly. _Potentially straight_, he reminded himself firmly, but a tiny, treacherous part of his brain also piped up, _potentially interested in men_.

The rest of the day passed astonishingly quickly and all too soon night arrived. Kaldur finished tidying up the kitchen in record time and finding himself with nothing to do. Well, he could always catch up on some reading. He'd been meaning to finish 'The Book Thief' after all, seeing how Garth, Tula and a few of his old colleagues had strongly recommended it. Kaldur fell asleep with the book in his lap, startling to wakefulness somewhere around one in the morning and falling asleep as soon as he lay down properly.

**Wayne & Co.:**

"Morning Kaldur." It was Mr. Wayne, holding a stack of documents in one hand. "I'm glad to see we didn't scare you away. How's your jaw now?"

"Much better, thank you sir." Kaldur felt a slight pang of embarrassment at the reminder of his jaw, although a glance in the mirror this morning told him that in another day or so it would completely gone.

"Good to hear. How's the LyrenCo case going?"

Kaldur quickly updated the older man on the arbitration, noting that until the accounting statements were received proceeding would be an issue. Those calm blue eyes did not once waver during this time, andwhen he was done explaining Mr. Wayne gave a quick, sharp nod. "Understood. If anything else arises, please let me know. Good job. Also, have you seen Dick anywhere?" Kaldur shook his head and Mr. Wayne gave a small sigh, shoulders slumping ever so slightly. "Please let him know I would like to see him." Kaldur nodded and returned to poring over a set of balance sheets from one of the other cases he'd been assigned on Thursday.

It turned out to be a fairly quiet morning, apart from when Dick burst into his office triumphantly brandishing LyrenCo's sale and purchase agreements. "By the way," Kaldur said hastily, "I was thinking of having a housewarming party on Friday evening. I'll cook." Dick simply looked at him as though waiting for more information. "Could you…maybe tell everyone else please? I would like to have you all come over and I don't have everyone's number." Dick nodded.

"Sounds good. Thanks – I'll let everyone know!"

Kaldur made a mental note to arrange a suitable time and text Dick the details. At least he wouldn't have to worry about anyone getting lost. "Kaldur?" It was Ms. Lance. "Do you have a minute?"

All too soon, lunchtime came around and Kaldur wondered whether he should go look for Dick before heading out. However, the dark-haired man was nowhere to be found, so feeling slightly abandoned he made his way into the lobby. Thankfully, he met a handful of people from Human Resources, who promptly invited him to join them. He spent the hour listening to them plan a whole stack of events for the office, from a fancy cocktail dinner in honour of their oldest clients to the annual staff Christmas party. Kory told him quietly with a sweet smile that Mr. Allen had actually pushed for more events when he'd first arrived, citing how important it was to ensure that the firm maintained a friendly atmosphere for employees, especially as its size made it difficult for associates to mingle.

Kaldur returned to the office after lunch, running into Dick in the lobby. Much to his surprise, Kory, who had been previously talking at a mile a minute about how excited she was about finally being able to book the Four Seasons in time for the company cocktail, stopped talking altogether and turned a deep scarlet shade. She managed to stammer something about work and then dashed off, leaving two very confused lawyers in her wake.

Dick looked at Kaldur. "You look at those documents yet?"

Kaldur nodded. "Some. I haven't finished checking them all yet."

"LyrenCo's really not looking great so far, is it?" Kaldur was surprised, considering that Dick had been so adamant about a more aggressive approach at the beginning of the case. The other caught his look and shrugged. "What? It's not. Doesn't mean we can't be a little more aggressive. It's still early days."

Kaldur was just wrestling with a particularly knotty problem involving company bye-laws and a director who appeared to have done something out of the norm when his phone rang. "Hello?"

"Kaldur, I need to see you about that case." Kaldur blinked and hastily tried to recognise the voice, although there really only was one partner who would request him specifically and sound like that on the phone.

He arrived in front of Bruce Wayne's office just in time to see Dick enter. He followed suit and soon both were seated in front of the partner. "So," Bruce began, steepling his fingers. "How are things looking for LyrenCo?" He did not seem at all surprised when Kaldur and Dick both agreed that there was fault on both sides, and simply nodded when Dick outlined their solution. Kaldur could not but feel a small stab of pride when Dick mentioned contributory negligence as a potential consideration, and Wayne simply nodded. "Good work. Double-check those statements; I don't want any nasty surprise tomorrow when they come over. And we need to file all relevant documents soon so that the arbitrator can get a good look at what they're dealing with. Before you ask," he told Dick, who'd opened his mouth to say something, "the arbitrator has not been decided yet. I believe the decision will come sometime between close of business today and tomorrow morning. I will let you both know of any further developments." Mr. Wayne nodded once to show that he was finished, and the two associates hastily made their way outside.

Dick cackled as they left the office, scaring two secretaries and a trainee. "How great were we?" He asked.

Kaldur smiled; the younger man's enthusiasm was infectious. "Mr. Wayne certainly seems satisfied for now. I don't think LyrenCo will be too happy to hear what we have to say though." Dick simply grinned.

"Then we'll just have to make it more palatable for them."

The rest of the day passed in a flurry of papers and e-mails, Kaldur fielding the smaller cases that the other partners passed to him and trawling through the company database or keeping an eye on the Bloomberg website when things got too boring. Thankfully, the company coffee was actually decent, and he found himself engaged in idle conversation with some of the other lawyers whenever he stepped out for a short break. He checked his e-mail at five-thirty, noting only one e-mail of importance. LyrenCo was apparently coming by again on Thursday to discuss the arbitration and Kaldur clenched his jaw before reminding himself that he no longer looked like a thug from the wrong side of the tracks. If the representatives took any issue with him, he would simply ignore it. Like a mature lawyer should.

Kaldur fell into a sort of rhythm, one that, bizarrely enough, had room for Dick. The darker-haired man was likely as not to follow him home, staying over at Wally's and even going so far as to come upstairs in the mornings and ask if he wanted to catch a cab to work. Dick hated the underground with an unrivalled passion, and there were no direct buses to Wayne & Co. Kaldur saw Wally quite frequently now, often dashing off to class in the afternoon screeching about how late he was.

Come Thursday evening, Kaldur was ready to call it a week, and the mere thought of getting up tomorrow morning and coming into work was enough to make him want to groan and slam his head on the polished desk in his office. The LyrenCo meeting had gone significantly better, but they were now faced with the daunting task of presenting evidence to the arbitrator. It was slow, tedious work and some of the statements had been photocopied so badly that Kaldur felt like his eyes would fall out of his head from the sheer strain.

"This stuff is pretty whelming huh?"

Kaldur had to pause for a moment before he truly understood what Dick was saying. "Well, it's not really what you dream of doing when you say you want to become a lawyer, is it?" Dick laughed.

"My eyes feel like they're burning." He took off his reading glasses and rubbed at them gently. "What did you want to be when you were a kid?"

"What?" Kaldur still wasn't accustomed to these jumps of logic, and it took him a few minutes to switch from 'work mode' to 'idle conversation mode'.

"You know, childhood dream. What was it?" Dick was looking at him curiously. "I'm serious!"

Kaldur tried very hard not to blush. "Iwantedtobealifeguard."

"What?" Kaldur shot Dick a sharp look, only to be met with utter curiosity and confusion. The other man's brow was furrowed and his eyes were narrowed as though he was trying to understand some difficult problem. "Was that even English?"

"Very funny."

"You still haven't told me what you wanted to be."

"A lifeguard."

Much to Dick's credit, he at least tried for a few minutes not to laugh. Then he gave up and started making those rather disturbing cackles that sounded like the laugh track for a haunted house. "Seriously? A lifeguard? Not even a fireman? Man, Kaldur, why?"

"I don't know! I liked swimming and playing in water, and I thought saving people would be a pretty good deal in exchange for getting to go to the beach every day!"

"That sounds bizarrely logical."

"I'm glad you think so."

Dick shrugged. "If it makes you feel better," he said, "I wanted to be a ninja."

"Sounds like something every kid wants to do after watching samurai movies."

"Yeah, I took gymnastics and martial arts already so it wasn't really a stretch, you know?"

"Dick Grayson, ninja extraordinaire. Sounds like a '60s TV show."

"Kaldur Ahm, lifeguard. Your name's a bit too epic for something like that." The two shared a small smile before returning to work, both glad for the brief respite.

Three hours later, Kaldur triumphantly slammed down the final set of checked statements with a sigh of relief. Almost everyone was gone now, save one or two of the partners and themselves. Even Mr. Wayne had gone home for the evening. Nevertheless, it was worth it; they were finally done with the raw data and could begin working out the nuts and bolts of how to present their case.

As they sat in the cab back home (or for Dick, back to Wally's), both men were completely exhausted. "Hey, Dick?"

"Yeah?"

"Where do you live? Like, when you're not staying at Wally's."

"Mayfair."

Kaldur turned to stare at his colleague. "Isn't that a nice neighbourhood?"

"Yes." Dick didn't seem inclined to further elaborate, but Kaldur pushed onwards. He could blame his tactlessness on exhaustion tomorrow morning.

"That must be…good."

Dick shrugged. "Sure. I like Wally's though. Less quiet, you know?" Perhaps Dick, too, was too tired to be evasive any more. "Besides, who would come get you if I wasn't around?" The slightly teasing tone was clearly meant to distract him, so Kaldur let it slide for now. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, thank you very much.

"You two seem close."

"Is that what he said?" It was too difficult to read Dick's expression in the flickering darkness as the cab sped onward. "I suppose so. Met during the first week of kindergarten." Dick gave a small chuckle. "He let me play with his Tonka truck."

Kaldur imagined a tiny Wally and Dick playing with toy trucks in a sandbox and had he been a less restrained man, he would have probably cooed at the sheer amount of cuteness that the mental image conjured up. "Must have been nice when he came over to study too, huh?" It was official. He was one of those nosey housewives that had nothing better to do with their lives than pry into other people's business. He would get a reputation as a relentless gossip tomorrow and Dick would never talk to him again. And then he'd never get to see Conner again. Before the other had a chance to reply, however, the shrill beep of a text message arriving filled the car. Both fumbled for their phones, Dick looking over at Kaldur when he saw that he had no new messages.

Kaldur stared at the blue screen for a moment, hardly believing his eyes. It was Conner, asking if he had time this weekend to come up to Camden. Every word was spelled correctly and in its full form, and Kaldur could just imagine Conner sitting there with his Blackberry, painstakingly typing each word out.

"Who's it from?" Dick had somehow managed to get close enough to see the text message without his noticing, and Kaldur resisted the urge to hide his phone like some high school girl with a crush. He was, after all, a mature working adult.

"Conner, huh?" Dick was definitely fully awake now, white teeth flashing and blue eyes glinting mischievously in the dark cab. "You gonna call him back?"

"Yes, of course I am, it's only ten-thirty at night. When most people start turning their phones _off_."

"Not Conner," Dick remarked slyly. "In fact, chances are that he's sitting by the phone suffering paroxysms of agony over whether you'll call him back or not."

"I'm sure he doesn't need an answer by tonight."

"Oh, so he asked you something then. Hmm, what would that be?" Dick hummed the Jeopardy tune, drumming his feet on the floor of the cab. "A date, of course!"

"He's showing me around Camden. I highly doubt that falls under date category." Roy had assured him that Camden was the students' part of town, full of 'emos, Goths and kids who never learned that pot was a _recreational _activity, not a full-time job.'

"You willing to bet on that?"

Kaldur was too tired to argue any more, and he could see the faint outline of Number 32. "Fine. Five pounds on _it's not a date._" Although really, Conner struck him as the straightforward, slightly socially-awkward type who would simply blurt out 'Would you go on a date with me?" rather than engage in any subtle tomfoolery.

Dick nodded. "You're on. If I'm wrong, I'll give you five pounds and throw in one of Wally's massages to boot." Kaldur immediately reached into his pocket, pulled out a handful of bills and shoved them at Dick. "That's my share." He next took out his phone and sent a quick text message to Conner: _Yes. Saturday, what time?_ "I'll go and tell you what happened. And you know I won't lie because Conner will probably tell you what happened too." Dick smiled.

"Deal."

It was only in the shower that Kaldur realized that Dick had effectively gotten him to reveal the contents of Conner's perfectly innocent text message _and_ reply.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

Disclaimer: I do not own YJ.

Rating: PG-13

* * *

Kaldur made a grab for his phone as soon as he woke up. _No new text messages. _He tamped down the feeling of disappointment and then started getting ready for work. That LyrenCo case wasn't going to prepare itself.

Thankfully, Dick did not say anything about the previous evening's conversation, obviously still tired from last night. He saw the other man's eyes slowly slide shut as they wond their way through the narrow London streets, finally arriving in front of the office. After paying the driver (and desperately hoping that he'd managed to get rid of those two pence coins for good), Kaldur quickly shook his friend awake, practically carrying him into the office.

Mr. Allen stopped by again as he made a habit of doing every morning, asking if Kaldur wanted to go get a coffee. "I skipped breakfast this morning," the older lawyer explained, "and I know you love the coffee downstairs as much as I do." Kaldur ended up spending an hour talking to Mr. Allen about the LyrenCo case, simply tossing ideas around. On the other hand, it proved to be a fruitful discussion, with the older lawyer asking questions that neither Kaldur nor Dick had thought to ask before.

Time slowed to a crawl once Kaldur returned to the office, but to his inner relief Dick stopped by at lunch time, grinning and asking if he wanted to go get a bite to eat. The younger lawyer genuinely seemed to be trying to show him around, and Kaldur found himself in a dingy sandwich shop that Dick swore did the best turkey sandwiches in London. "Any word from Conner?" Dick asked as casually as though he was discussing the weather.

Kaldur wondered whether he should have pretended to choke to buy himself some time. "Not really," he quietly replied as he picked at his food. "I told you it wasn't a date."

"Disappointed?" Kaldur raised an eyebrow and Dick hastily busied himself with his sandwich. They talked about nothing in particular after that, instead leaping from topic to topic. Halfway through, Dick leaned back and casually asked, "So what time should we come over tonight then? I mean, any time after six is fine but Zatanna will probably have to come late since this event she's been organising is due to go off tomorrow and she needs to make sure things are okay."

"Tonight?" Dick blinked, blue eyes confused.

"Yeah, tonight. Your housewarming party?"

Kaldur felt the bottom of his stomach drop out. _His housewarming party._ "Oh my God," he said weakly. He'd completely forgotten about it, what with work and everything else piling up. He'd also forgotten to call his family in LA, but thankfully they seemed to be happy with the text messages so far. And he really, really needed to start talking seriously to the phone people; he had no idea what they were doing about his internet and phone line. Dick must have sensed something wrong, because he immediately leaned over to look closely.

"Hey, calm down. It's fine. I'll call everyone and say you aren't feeling well, and that you're very sorry for cancelling all of a sudden."

"No, it's fine," Kaldur hastily said. "It's my fault; I should have written it down somewhere and I'm not quite used to this phone yet. Roy had to help me out." Oh God, Roy was going to kill him for such short notice. Then again, perhaps he had his own Friday night plans. He hastily ran a few calculations through his head, trying to work out how long he would need to buy the ingredients and prepare enough food for eight to nine people, two of whom were big eaters to begin with. "Would seven-thirty tonight be acceptable?" The other frowned lightly.

"Are you sure? We wouldn't want to impose and you've been very busy lately, and it's your house—"

"Don't worry about it," Kaldur said, sounding much calmer than he felt. "I'll probably leave early today; I think we spent enough time here last night as it is. No one would begrudge us an early weekend, after all." He knew for a fact however that he would be staying until at least six, which gave him an hour and a half to get all the ingredients together and prepare something decent. "I would very much like for all of you to come over tonight. Seven-thirty will be fine." He gave the other what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Dick still looked a little concerned, but leaned back. "Okay then," the other said finally. "But if you need help or anything, let me know. I reckon I'll be staying at Wally's again, seeing how it's so convenient." He grinned a little and Kaldur smiled back.

Kaldur decided on chicken in cream sauce, an old standby that had served him well over the years. He could buy a baguette and make bruschetta; that always went over well with small groups and perhaps he could leave dessert to the others, since it was likely that Megan would bring cookies again. He would also need more pasta and quite possibly cream.

Thankfully it was a quiet day and no one came in to ask Kaldur for help on a 'last-minute project'. Even Mr. Wayne dropped by with a small smile on his face, wishing him a good weekend and then announcing to the entire office that he was off to 'reclaim his soul'. For his part, as soon as the clock on his desk read 6.00 in flashing black digits, Kaldur shut his computer down, gathered his things up and raced out the door, hastily telling Dick 'See you later' and sending Roy an invitation to his housewarming party via text message. Roy promptly accepted the invitation and promised to be around at half seven.

Kaldur practically stormed Waitrose, sure that he looked half-crazy with his tie askew and eyes gleaming wildly, all the while glancing at his watch and muttering calculations under his breath. As he waited impatiently in the checkout line, glaring at cashiers and customers alike, he decided to quickly prepare the bread and salad first. That way, his friends would have something to eat and—oh God, drinks, what about drinks? Roy would probably bring decent wine or beer at least, but what if they turned out to dislike alcohol? Didn't some of them have to drive home? By the time he got to the front of the queue he was sure that his heart would explode from how hard it was pounding, and he glanced down at his watch. Thankfully, it was just past six forty-five and Kaldur took a deep breath. He could do this. He would be damned if he panicked like a frat boy whose parents were coming over for the first time.

Dinner was bubbling merrily on the stove and much to his relief, the new oven proved to be fairly easy to work. Kaldur hastily checked on the sauce to make sure it didn't burn or go lumpy halfway through and looked at the clock. It was only seven-fifteen. Then the doorbell rang.

Hastily wiping his hands off, he opened the door to find Roy smirking at the door, holding a small dark green bag aloft. "I brought wine," the other told him. "And go check your sauce. We've all tasted what happens when you get distracted."

"So what's up with the late notice?" The other asked amiably as he perched himself on the opposite countertop. "I thought you would have told me a week in advance at least. Been quite the social butterfly, haven't you?"

Kaldur ignored the jab at his social skills and continued stirring the sauce, slowly adding the cream just like he'd learned during those six months of Home Ec. "I forgot," he told the other man. "One of my…friends had to remind me this afternoon." He smiled slightly, knowing that Roy was just as amused.

"And because you felt so bad, you didn't tell them you forgot and ran back home to start cooking." Roy was clearly fighting back laughter.

"Well," Kaldur confessed, "I think he figured it out. He was very nice about it." He could just tell that Roy's ears had suddenly pricked up.

"Was this Conner, by any chance?" Kaldur sighed.

"No. I make it a point not to date my colleagues, unlike some of us." Thankfully, he was spared Roy's reply by a series of quick raps on the door.

Kaldur almost dropped the spoon when he heard two different voices squawk, "You!" at the same time. Dick's eerie laugh filled the hallway.

"Sorry, kid, we don't have any candy and Halloween's a few months away yet." Kaldur sighed, unable to leave his sauce, and hastily called out to his friends from the kitchen.

"Wally, Dick, thanks for coming! Please ignore Roy, he was raised by wolves and hasn't quite integrated into human society yet." Wally made his way into the kitchen, green eyes glinting cheerfully in the warm yellow glow.

"Kaldur, good to see you again!" Wally hurried into the kitchen, dumping a large plate covered in plastic on the countertop. "Dick said you might need some help getting set up…?"

"Not at all." Kaldur turned to give the other a smile. "I had a moment of absent-mindedness, since I've been tied up with work and everything else."

Wally laughed. "Don't worry about it. Honestly, you didn't have to do anything tonight if you didn't feel up to it." Just as Kaldur reassured Wally that everyone was very much welcome in his flat (they were), another knock came from the door. He guessed it was one of the girls. If Roy's tone of voice was anything to go by, it was definitely the girls. All three of them, in fact. _At least he'll be occupied for a while._

Wally had at some point also gone outside, likely to flirt with Megan or at least check out the cookies she'd brought this time. Kaldur relaxed a little as he heard the sounds of happy chatter from the corridor, everyone clearly now making conversation and trying to get to know Roy. He didn't hear anything that sounded like an argument brewing, so he decided to leave his guests to their own devices. After all, they were fully capable of handling themselves.

"Smells amazing in here." Kaldur nearly jumped a foot off the floor when he heard Dick's voice. Thankfully, he didn't spill anything, or else it would have been an even bigger mess to clean up. "Conner says he's on his way and will be here in fifteen minutes." The other man pretended not to notice that Dick was fishing for information and made a mental note to be on his guard, remembering what had happened last night.

"That's good; I'll have the food done by then. Would you all like something to snack on for the moment?" He gestured at the plate of bruschetta he'd prepared. "It'll tide you over until dinner." If Dick felt that his plans had been thwarted, he gave no indication of it.

"Sure. And everyone's excited to see you, not eat cordon-bleu cooking." Kaldur spared him an inquiring glance and Dick smiled.

"You're all tense. Relax." There was the sound of someone at the door again and Dick shot him a wide smile. "Sounds like Conner."

Kaldur heard the pounding of footsteps; sounded like Wally, with Roy a close second behind him, and he heard the door open. "Hi," Roy said politely. Kaldur could just tell that the other was practically vibrating with glee. "I'm Roy. And you are…?"

"Uh, Conner. Conner Kent." _Kent? _Kaldur wondered whether he bore any relation to Mr. Clark Kent. After all, the two were surprisingly similar in appearance.

"Oh, _Conner._" He could just see the expression on Roy's face now, and hoped that someone out there had the good sense to distract his friend before things got out of hand. A quick glance down at the sauce and he realised that it was done. A sigh of relief escaped him as he hastily mixed everything together.

"Everyone, dinner!" He hollered. He hoped Conner hadn't been scarred for life yet.

Much to Kaldur's regret, Roy somehow ended up next to Conner and opposite Wally. He insisted that Kaldur sit on his right hand side 'because I haven't seen you in way too long," and also appeared to have developed a sickness which required him to constantly touch Kaldur. Meanwhile, Wally's eyes were getting rounder and rounder every time Roy deliberately plastered himself over Kaldur and Conner appeared to have withdrawn into himself, picking idly at the food and giving Megan half-heartedly encouraging smiles as she rambled on about the new, eco-friendly oven she'd just purchased.

After Roy slung an arm around his shoulders with a broad wink at the entire table, Kaldur decided he'd had enough. "Wally," he asked politely, since every time he'd tried to talk to the other redhead Roy had rudely interrupted with some question about law that he insisted had to be answered instantly, "How have you been?"

The other seemed somewhat relieved, although his answers were shorter than usual and he was definitely less forthcoming than before. "I've been good," the other answered, "I've got my thesis topic sorted out now, so at least I know what I need to do in preparation."

Kaldur nodded sympathetically, remembering his own experience in university and law school with theses. "You know," he began, thinking of a way to get back at Roy already, "When Roy was my roommate in law school…" Wally leaned forward, clearly curious, and soon Kaldur had him eating out of the palm of his hand. And if the others had stopped watching Roy be overly-affectionate with him too, well, that was an extra bonus.

"Kaldur keeps a ruler by his bed," Roy mentioned offhandedly, staring up at the ceiling. "But for what it's worth," he added to his horrified friend, "I am completely of the opinion that you didn't need to worry. At _all_." He leaned back and smirked at Kaldur unrepentantly. Conner looked like he was about to break something, brow furrowed and expression so dark that all he needed to complete the picture was a tiny thundercloud above his head. Wally's mouth was open, treating everyone to a view of half-masticated chicken. Dick and Megan both had the grace to look slightly embarrassed, although Kaldur had a feeling that his colleague's eyes would be sparkling with mischief if he could see them. Thankfully, Artemis broke the silence.

"Guess you'll never measure up then." Everyone laughed, although Megan turned even redder and Conner still looked rather angry. Roy sat up so fast it was a wonder he didn't get whiplash and if looks could kill, Artemis would have been a pile of ash on the floor. Just as Roy opened his mouth to give her a piece of his mind, Kaldur hastily dragged his friend into the kitchen, babbling some incoherent excuse about wine and ice cream. Once in the safety of the kitchen, Kaldur slammed the door shut and glared at his friend. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but whatever it is, stop it _right now_."

Roy glared mutinously back. "Make me."

Kaldur was utterly confused, but angry too. "You're behaving like a five-year old. And be nice. Don't think I haven't noticed how you were treating Conner all evening." The redhead scowled and his jaw twitched like he wanted to say something, but he simply turned to grab a bottle opener and set to work on the remaining bottle of wine with a vengeance. Kaldur simply took out the tub of ice cream and Megan's pie, and began preparing dessert.

When he came back out into the dining area, he found the dirty dishes stacked neatly at one end of the table and Wally polishing off the last of the bruschetta. "Can't let this stuff go to waste," the student explained. "It's amazing."

"Thank you," Kaldur replied, genuinely touched. He then noticed Conner was absent. "I hope you've still got room for dessert."

Artemis laughed. "Wally's like a bottomless pit. I wouldn't worry about having too much food with him around."

"Please, you're just jealous it takes more work for you to maintain your figure."

"Excuse me? Krav Maga burns more calories than your boring speed training ever will!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" The two glowered at each other for a few moments before settling down, Dick soothing Wally and Megan doing the same for Artemis. Kaldur figured he had nothing to worry about on that part until a loud curse sounded from the hallway. "Sh-t! And that was the good wine, too!" Kaldur hurried out into the corridor just in time to see a frustrated Roy shove Conner, the red wine stain on his chest all too prominent. "What the hell is your problem?"

Conner, for his part, appeared just as angry. "What the hell is _your _problem?" He snapped in reply. Kaldur dimly registered hurried footsteps behind him, probably everyone else coming out to see what the fuss was all about, but he did nothing. "I said I was sorry already! What else do you want?"

"Uh, gee, maybe 'Sorry for punching you out Kaldur'?" Roy sarcastically replied. He rolled his eyes at the surprised look on Conner's face. "Don't look so surprised," he spat, "My friend was walking around for a week with the bruise that _you gave him_ so don't you tell me it was nothing. And you're lucky Kaldur's a nice guy, because honestly? If I'd been there, you'd be in hospital. And breathing through a tube." Judging from the way Conner shifted into a defensive stance, Kaldur decided it would be best to intervene before things got out of hand.

"Okay everyone, break it up." He placed himself in between the two men and tried very hard not to stare at Conner's broad chest. _Focus,_ he told himself sternly, _you are not a teenager any more and it is inappropriate._ "Roy, give me the wine." His best friend scowled at him but handed the bottle over anyway. Kaldur handed it off to Zatanna, who seemed to realize that it would be best for someone completely uninvolved to take it someplace safer. "Thank you. Now, I am very sorry for this…altercation and if I remember correctly, there is melting ice cream and rapidly cooling pie outside, so why don't you all go and enjoy dessert? I'll handle things here." Dick caught on and helped to usher everyone back outside, making jokes about dinner theatre all the while. Kaldur pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off an impending headache as he turned to face the other two men.

"Roy, I'm very sorry about what happened to your shirt and everything else. If you wish, you may send me the dry-cleaning bill." Roy opened his mouth to protest, but Kaldur cut him off. "It was an _accident_," he said firmly. "And Conner apologized."

Roy stared for a moment and then rolled his eyes again. "Whatever. I'm not going to make you pay for something that wasn't your fault to begin with. Thanks for dinner, though I can't say the same for the company." He stormed out the door and slammed it heavily behind him, making the entire apartment rattle. In light of the circumstances, Kaldur supposed he should just be grateful that the other man did not yell 'Adios, motherf-ckers!' like that time he'd stormed out of a Law Society dinner.

He next turned to Conner. "I apologise for my friend. He can be a bit…harsh at times."

Conner shook his head, looking ashamed. "No; the bruise was my fault," he said quietly. "Not the wine though. I didn't mean to hit him. I was just coming out of the bathroom and—" Kaldur shook his head.

"It's fine," the lawyer said wearily. "Everyone knows you didn't mean it. Look, why don't you go back outside, have dessert and we can at least salvage some of the night? I'd hate to think I made you all come here on such short notice and then sent you away just because of a bottle of wine." He tried his therapist smile again, glad to see that Conner's expression was much more relaxed than before. "Come on," he told the other, "there's pie outside. Megan tells me it's strawberry."

Dessert passed quietly, although Kaldur noticed that his friends appeared to be more subdued than before. Even Wally kept the science puns and crude jokes down, although he supposed such a dramatic altercation would put a bit of a dampener on any party. He made a mental note to talk to Roy soon; something was obviously eating at his friend and he now regretted being so harsh. Moreover, scolding him in front of what was essentially a bunch of strangers could not have done any good. "I'm sorry about that," he apologized awkwardly. "I did not intend…" He trailed off helplessly, unsure of what to say. _For a lawyer, you're awfully awkward,_ his inner voice commented wryly.

Dick smiled. "Don't worry about it. We all have bad days and it's been a long week." Kaldur felt a small stab of gratitude and relief run through him; at least one person here did not think he kept company with a complete psycho. "So, I notice you have no TV."

Kaldur smiled in relief, glad to talk about something mundane for a change. "No, not yet," he answered, "I was thinking of waiting until the internet and the phone came." Dick's eyes lit up in understanding.

"One of those package deals then?"

"Yes; why not get cable if you can, right?" Dick laughed in agreement.

"So when are they coming over?" Kaldur told him the entire bizarre tale of how the phone company kept insisting that they would send someone over 'next week' whenever he asked, but so far there had been no answer at all.

"Have you been going down in person?" That was Zatanna.

"Not really," Kaldur confessed. "I've been so tied up at work lately that I just haven't thought about it."

"You should," the girl told him. "Once you start showing up, they get worried. It's really just a matter of persistence sometimes."

Megan beamed encouragingly at him. "Don't worry. I'm sure they'll come by soon. If not, let Conner know; he's got a few good friends that he can put you in touch with." Kaldur saw the grin on Dick's face and resisted the urge to blush. There was absolutely nothing wrong with having an excuse to call Conner. Nothing at all. He winced at the memory of the bet he'd made; it would probably have to be postponed in light of this evening's incident.

All too soon it was ten o'clock, and everyone started looking sleepier than before. Artemis was the first to get her coat, claiming that she was supposed to go see her mother over the weekend and had to get an early start. "Have a good time in Camden tomorrow," she told Kaldur with a wink. "And thank you for the lovely dinner. Let me know if you come by Flash, okay?" Kaldur nodded.

Megan beamed at Kaldur when he thanked her for the pie. "I haven't had such good pie in years," he told her. "So thank you for coming and bringing it."

"It was nothing," she smiled. "I'm just glad you all enjoyed it. Save some for your friend, okay?" Kaldur nodded, feeling even worse now that she'd been so thoughtful even if Roy had made a colossal ass of himself.

"I will," he told her. "And I promise to come by your bakery soon. If there's pie, I'll be there." This last comment caused her to laugh and she too was soon gone. Dick and Wally had vanished off somewhere; Kaldur had a feeling they intended to stay and help him out if the clanging of dishes and occasional yelps were any indication, and now it was just Conner.

"Sorry," Conner muttered awkwardly. "About everything. I didn't mean to ruin your friend's shirt—"

Kaldur sighed. "Don't worry about it. Roy likes to be a bit of a drama queen sometimes. He was wrong to take anything out on you and he gets a little overprotective sometimes. He's due for a talking to anyway."

Conner didn't look reassured by this at all, but thankfully said nothing. As the other man shuffled towards the door, Kaldur finally mustered up the courage to ask what he'd really wanted to all evening. "So, uh, about tomorrow?" Blue eyes turned to look at him in surprise before Conner gave him a tiny smile.

"Yeah, we're still on. Unless you've got plans, of course," he hastily added. "Or…whatever. You, uh, might want to see your, uh, friend or whatever."

Kaldur shook his head. "He needs some time to cool off. So no, no plans tomorrow. Unless you mind showing me around Camden." The answering smile on Conner's face was worth the awkwardness.

"Not at all," the other said earnestly. "I'll meet you at Mornington Crescent tube station; it's on the Northern Line – the black one. You'll have to change to the Charing Cross branch at Euston but it's not too far after that."

Kaldur smiled. "What time?"

After settling on noon at Mornington Crescent, Kaldur headed for the kitchen to find a small but steadily-growing stack of clean white plates and gleaming silver cutlery. Dick was up to his elbows in soapy water, whilst Wally dried each piece carefully. They looked so comfortable together that Kaldur was tempted to just leave, knowing that they would not notice his absence until they were done with the dishes. Nevertheless, a good host did not make his guests do the washing up.

"I'll help," he offered, opening the cabinet where he stored his dishes. "And I'll take over. You must be tired after today."

Wally grinned at him. "Not at all. I'm still pretty unwhelmed." Dick gave the other a small, affectionate smile at that. "And I'm stuffed. That was delicious pasta, by the way. And the ice-cream? It's like a foodgasm." Dick made a small noise at that and Wally simply patted his best friend's back. "Calm down, Rob, it's got nothing to do with your virtue, I swear."

Kaldur smiled at this and busied himself sorting the cutlery, replacing forks, knives and spoons in their usual places within a kitchen drawer. "So, uh, you and Roy…" Wally began before trailing off and shaking his head. "What's eating him?" The redhead asked. Dick gave him a dirty look but Kaldur figured Wally was well within his rights.

"He's always been a bit of a drama queen," Kaldur replied rather dryly. "But truth be told, I should have known better than to have him come over tonight. He's been asking about Conner since the bruise."

"I'd be pretty angry too if someone beat up my friend," Dick commented quietly from the sink. Wally glared.

"Yeah, but he didn't have to go and bully Conner about it!"

"I apologise," Kaldur finally said, "but I don't think getting angry about it will help anything. And I'm sorry, Wally, for Roy's temper."

Wally sighed. "I'm not blaming _you_, Kaldur," he pointed out. "I'm just saying that maybe you should be careful around him." Kaldur bristled at this comment and it seemed that Dick agreed with him too.

"That's really none of your business," he replied in as neutral a tone as he could muster. Wally had the grace to look slightly ashamed but didn't back down, for which Kaldur could not blame him. "I didn't intend for this to happen. I suppose forgetting about the house party was a sign."

"Well," Dick commented, "at least you have tomorrow to look forward to." Kaldur didn't know whether to strangle him or hug him. The change of topic was welcome, but he would have much rather kept his plans with Conner a secret for now.

Wally's gaze swung over in confusion to his friend. "Tomorrow?"

Dick grinned and explained his bet with Kaldur in all its glorious detail. By the time he was finished, Wally's anger had been partly replaced with curiosity and amusement, although Kaldur could tell he was still wary. "So Conner offered to show you around Camden?" The redhead asked. Kaldur carefully nodded. "And you're making bets with Dick on whether it's a date or not?" Kaldur nodded again, all too aware that bets of this nature never ended well. Why had he made it again?

"So, Dick," Wally turned to the other man. "When were you going to tell me about this?"

Dick gave the other a sheepish smile and Kaldur watched with barely-concealed glee as the other squirmed uncomfortably. "Uh, never? I would totally win the bet! You know that!" It was the first time he'd seen anyone get the better of Dick.

"Come on," Wally whined, "Doesn't he have to undergo a background check at least?"

Dick gave him a look. "Don't be silly, Wally," he said briskly, "Kaldur's a perfectly fine young man who I'd be happy for Conner to go out with."

"Oh, so _my _dates have to undergo a cross-examination but Conner's don't?"

Kaldur noticed that Dick's shoulders were tensed up again and he wondered what it could mean. Surely it wasn't…? No, it couldn't be. Meanwhile, the other two were still squabbling away. "Gentlemen," he interrupted with a polite smile, honed from that summer spent working as a waiter in one of L.A.'s fanciest hotels, "It's getting quite late now, and—"

"Of course!" Dick and Wally hastily said simultaneously, both giving him wide-eyed looks of surprise as though they'd forgotten he lived there. "We're very sorry," Wally said, "Robin and I didn't mean to impose. We'll be headed back home then. Thank you for the lovely dinner and everything. It was a fantastic party."

"The pleasure was all mine," Kaldur replied, slightly caught off-guard at how quickly both seemed to drop the subject. Of course, the look that Wally shot Dick implied that the argument wasn't quite over yet. "Thank you for coming over and helping me clean up."

"No worries," Dick replied with an easy smile. "See you around then. I'll let you know if we have any plans for the weekend. And let me know how Saturday goes." Much to his embarrassment, Kaldur felt himself turning red even as his friends went back downstairs, bickering all the while.

Kaldur woke up on Saturday morning with an odd feeling in his chest as though he had something important to do. He sleepily cast a glance at the digital clock on his night table and breathed out a sigh of relief when it showed him that it was only 6.57am. Not wanting to wait the extra three minutes, he proceeded to roll out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

After his usual workout and breakfast, Kaldur realised that he faced an unusual dilemma. Was it a date or not? Dick seemed to be of the opinion that it was, although Conner certainly hadn't given any indication of that fact. Twenty minutes later, Kaldur was seriously considering heading downstairs and asking Dick and Wally for advice. He'd even tried the 'close your eyes and point' method, but his finger kept landing on the Lady Gaga shirt a friend had bought him as a gag gift six months ago.

Kaldur's phone went off and thankful for the distraction, he hastily answered. It was Conner. "Hey Conner."

"Hi. I, uh, I'm really sorry but I, don't think I can make it for noon. Would 12.30 be okay?"

Kaldur slowly let out a long breath. "Of course. That's no problem at all, Conner."

"I'm really sorry." Conner let out a small huff. "It's just that someone pulled out last minute and the boss called me in to cover."

"It's no problem," Kaldur told him gently. "Don't worry about it. I'll call you when I get there."

"Okay. But not on the tube." As though sensing Kaldur's confusion, Conner explained further. "There's no reception."

"I'll call you when I get there then," Kaldur replied. "12.30, right?"

"Yeah. I'm really sorry about it."

"Don't worry," Kaldur reassured the other. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Yeah. Me too. Bye."

Kaldur looked from the phone back to the two shirts on his bed and decided to go with the navy blue. His mother had always said he looked good in dark colours.

The ride from King's Cross to Camden went smoothly, although he had been slightly thrown off by the fact that he'd had to change branches at Euston, and almost ended up getting on the Victoria line instead. As he walked out into the autumn sunshine and looked around, he wondered what Conner had planned. As he was about to call the other, a heavy hand landed on his shoulder and he almost jumped. Clearly Dick wasn't the only one who could be cat-quiet when he wanted.

"Hey." Conner smiled awkwardly at him before looking away again.

"Conner. Thanks for inviting me today. Did you get everything sorted out?"

Conner nodded. "Yeah. It was pretty quiet anyway." He turned and started walking, clearly expecting Kaldur to just follow him. "I figured we could sweep by the market," Conner explained. "Even if you're not really into shopping, there are a few good restaurants over there and we can get something to eat. Are you hungry?"

Kaldur nodded. "A little. You?"

Conner shrugged. "Somewhat." As they walked down the road, Kaldur noticed that the street was somewhat dingy and lined with small shops advertising tattooing, New Age wares and clothing. Then an all-too familiar smell hit his nose and he inhaled deeply, a wave of homesickness taking him by surprise. He whipped around and stared at the tiny, brightly-painted stall. Conner stopped and turned around, following the line of Kaldur's gaze to the churro stand. "Want one?"

Conner insisted on paying for the churros, squinting at the tiny bags through the glass case and finally pointing at one that looked slightly bigger than the rest. "It doesn't look like a lot," Conner said, frowning apologetically as he handed the bag to Kaldur.

"Probably for the best, since we're supposed to be looking for lunch," Kaldur absently commented as he chewed one happily. The taste and texture were just right, and he let himself remember long, lazy summer days spent on the beach. He looked over at Conner to thank him again and noticed that the other seemed to be fascinated by the bright red paper bag. "Want one?" Kaldur asked, feeling slightly ashamed for not immediately offering to share.

Conner stared at the churros dubiously before carefully taking one out of the bag. He bit into it and his eyes widened in surprise. "It's good," he said around a mouthful. Kaldur smiled.

"I used to eat these back home," he commented. "There was a place by the beach that did hotdogs and churros and over the summer holidays my friends and I would just go and stuff ourselves and fool around until the sun went down." Conner smiled at him.

"Do you ever miss LA?"

Kaldur shrugged. "Sometimes. It's little things, like wanting to talk to my friend and realising I can't walk there anymore. Or wanting a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. But it's been good here. I've been too busy to miss home much."

"That…sounds good."

"What about you? Did you grow up here?"

Conner shook his head and reached for another churro. "I grew up near Scunthorpe." Seeing Kaldur's confused expression, he smiled slightly. "It's a town in North Lincolnshire," he explained, "The only thing worth looking at there is Corus – the steelworks. I moved down here to see my dad really."

Sensing that there was more to the story but not wanting to pry, Kaldur made a non-committal remark and asked how long Conner had been in London for. The other man answered his questions readily, asking a few of his own in return and time passed quickly. Soon they were standing in front of a small Middle-Eastern restaurant. The place looked like the inside of a fortune teller's tent, gauzy scarves draped over every available surface and glints of gold and silver shimmering from the edges of various mirrors and lamps. "It's not much," Conner said as they sat down, "but they do the best lamb kebabs in town. And the hummus and pita is homemade every day."

A chubby man with the most fantastic moustache Kaldur had ever seen bustled over, a wide smile splitting his face at the sight of the mechanic. Kaldur liked him immediately. "Conner, my boy, how have you been?" He looked over at Kaldur and the smile grew wider, if that was even possible. "And you brought a friend! The usual then?"

The other man ducked his head bashfully. "Yeah, that'd be great Hakim, thanks. And some extra pita bread, hummus and tabbouleh to start please?" Hakim practically glowed and he turned his gazes to Kaldur.

"You are a very lucky man, sir," he beamed. Conner made a small noise from behind his menu and Kaldur felt his skin heating up. "What would you like?"

"Uh…the stuffed fig leaves to start and the lamb kebabs please." Hakim smiled.

"Certainly! Please, don't let this old man interrupt your conversation. Your food will be here shortly." With another blinding smile at Conner, the chubby man rushed off in the direction of the kitchen. Kaldur looked at Conner to see the other man looking away, a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

"So," Kaldur began just as Conner cleared his throat to say something. They both mumbled apologies, awkwardly trying to let the other speak first. Conner finally took matters into his own hands.

"Hakim's kind of…effusive," Conner commented to the table. "He's just worried about me."

"Do you come here often?" Kaldur asked.

"Yeah. Well, I used to," the other amended, "but these days I've been busier ever since the boss changed my shifts, so I haven't had as much time to come down here as I've liked."

"It's a nice place." Kaldur found himself settling into the chair more comfortably. "So is this place Lebanese, or Turkish, or…?"

"Turkish. Hakim's Lebanese, but he grew up in Turkey and his wife's Turkish. She does most of the cooking, so be nice." Conner grinned mischievously and it made his entire face seem younger, more boyish and much more carefree. Kaldur wondered if he could make the other smile like that all the time.

They talked until the food came, discussing family, friends and work, although Kaldur made it a point not to talk about Roy in light of the previous night's events. Hakim eventually returned with a waitress in tow, both holding large plates of food. "Turkish food is for sharing," the man explained cheerfully. "And you both look like you could use a good meal. Enjoy!" He left quickly, but not without another wink at Conner, which made the man blush.

Kaldur remembered eating Lebanese with Roy and reached out for a piece of pita bread, glad to find it piping hot, and dipped it into the hummus. It was absolutely delicious. He looked up to see Conner smiling at him, blue eyes fixed on his face. Realising that he'd been caught, the black-haired man hastily ducked his head and took a big bite of tabbouleh. Kaldur smiled to himself. Perhaps there was some hope, then.

There was one piece of pita bread left. Kaldur thought he would surely die if he ate another bite of food, but it was sitting there all lightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and there was hummus and—oh. He looked up to see Conner firmly gripping the other side of the bread and hastily let go, apologising profusely. Conner looked just as embarrassed, insisting that Kaldur should have the last piece. To save any further hassle, Kaldur quickly tore the bread in half and handed a piece to the other. "No one said we couldn't share," Kaldur pointed out.

When Hakim bustled over with the bill ('Regulars' discount!'), Conner immediately snatched the slip of paper away from Kaldur and paid for the lot himself. "I ate more," he explained, blue eyes daring the other man to protest. Kaldur was too busy reeling from the shock though. Dick had been right. It was a date.

They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around, talking more than paying any attention to their surroundings. Kaldur almost jumped in shock when he absently reached out to touch a colourful object outside one of the shops and found it to be a pair of fuzzy leopard-print handcuffs. Conner simply raised an eyebrow at his horrified expression and led him away, ignoring the appreciative hollers from some of the people gathered on the street.

"You probably have to go," Conner commented as a gust of surprisingly-chilly air blew past them and Kaldur shivered slightly. "It's getting late."

"Not at all," Kaldur reassured him. "I just have to go back and sit in my empty flat with no television. Really." He figured Conner had probably already guessed how pathetic his life was judging from the lack of television, internet and phone.

Conner nodded in understanding. "I heard you were having some problems with the phone company?"

"Yeah, they keep saying they'll send someone over but I haven't heard from them." Conner frowned.

"Dick told me which company it was. I could get a friend over there to help sort it out, if you'd like."

"That sounds good, actually," Kaldur replied. He needed to get Skype soon, or else his mother would likely throw a fit over not being able to see her baby boy regularly. "But no rush," he mentioned quickly. "If your friend has time…"

Conner smiled. "Of course. He's a good guy. I'll give him a call tonight and see what he can do. Let me know if the company doesn't call you by Tuesday, okay?" He immediately pulled out his Blackberry and typed something in, presumably a reminder to chase up Kaldur's account.

"Thank you." Conner ducked his head.

"No problem."

"So…" Kaldur paused, wondering if he would seem too forward. "Any plans for tonight?" Conner shrugged.

"I have dinner with a couple of old friends from out of town."

"Oh." Kaldur felt slightly disappointed but smiled anyway. "That sounds good."

"You could join us," Conner offered. "They're friendly enough."

Kaldur shook his head. "No; I wouldn't want to impose. And I've got some work from the office to catch up on." Not that he would be doing anything except reading the paper and ploughing through _Ulysses_ for the second time, but Conner didn't need to know that.

"I'll walk you back to the tube station," the other man said. "I've got some spare time anyway."

All too soon they were standing in front of the Camden Town tube station, Conner pointing out that Mornington Crescent was not actually that far from a bigger station, and they stood there awkwardly staring at each other. Kaldur felt that he should do something to indicate that he was aware the entire thing was a date, but Conner didn't seem inclined to do anything at all except nod and shuffle a little. Perhaps he was trying to welcome Kaldur to the city in his own unique way. "Thank you, Conner," he told the other. "I had a wonderful-!" Without warning, Conner suddenly leaned forward and pulled him into a stiff hug. It would have been ten times more awkward if not for the fact that Kaldur was slightly distracted by the scent of leather and oil and the other's very broad chest. He carefully reached around and patted the other's back, reciprocating the gesture. Just as abruptly as he'd initiated the hug, Conner suddenly pulled away and shook his head as though trying to clear it.

"Yeah," the other replied, voice slightly deeper than usual. "No worries. I'll see you around." He then turned and walked away so quickly that it looked as though he was two steps away from breaking into a run. Kaldur stared until the other vanished from sight, torn between confusion and surprise.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

Disclaimer: I do not own YJ.

A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay; I took an impromptu trip to Shanghai and have had to deal with a few surprises in real life, so I've been busy lately. Thank you for waiting and hope you enjoy the new chapter!

* * *

As Kaldur got to the third floor, he heard a scuffling noise and suddenly Dick burst out, his distinctive cackle filling the space. As soon as his eyes landed on Kaldur, he gave another shriek of joy and dashed upstairs. "Come on, Kaldur, hurry up!" He yelled.

Kaldur turned around to see a shirtless Wally dash out, head wrapped in a towel and clearly fresh out of the shower. "Robin!" Suddenly aware of the cooler air and Kaldur, the redhead flushed and hastily stepped back into his flat, one hand going down to fix the tiny towel hanging around his waist. Kaldur also took a step back and looked upstairs to where Dick was grinning from ear to ear. "It's not what it looks like," Wally tried to explain but trailed off helplessly even as Kaldur eyed him.

"You mean you aren't chasing Dick up the stairs in a state of dishabille?"

"Diss-a-what?"

Dick giggled again. Kaldur sighed; he thought this part of his life had ended along with his exit from university dorms. "Wally, why don't you get dressed and I'll deal with Dick. Your towel is about to slip."

Wally gave one last furious glare up at Dick before retreating into the privacy of his own flat, much to Kaldur's relief. As soon as the door slammed shut, Kaldur looked up to see Dick beaming proudly.

Kaldur decided to let Dick stay for a while upon discovering that Wally had dead bolted the door, rendering keys useless. As he puttered around getting dinner ready, Dick perched on the opposite countertop making conversation. "So how was your day, Kaldur?" Kaldur didn't need eyes to just _know_ that his colleague was smirking.

"I owe you five pounds."

"Sweet! But I'll waive that if you let me have details."

"I think I'll pass."

Dick sighed. "Okay, fine. But you know Conner will tell me what happened anyway."

"Don't let me spoil the surprise."

"Was it not a good date?"

"No! It was—" Kaldur stopped and then turned around to glare at Dick. He knew what the other was up to this time. "I know what you're doing and I'm not going to fall for it again."

Dick simply shrugged and changed the topic. "Suit yourself. What're you making?" Kaldur ended up inviting Dick and Wally up for dinner that night, seeing as neither of them had eaten and dinner and conversation was better than dinner and a book.

Wally glared at Dick as he entered the apartment, now thankfully fully-dressed. "I hate you so much right now," he informed the other. Dick simply cackled in reply but when asked what happened, neither would say a word. Bemused and somewhat dissatisfied, Kaldur decided to concentrate on dinner instead.

For his first time making curry, Kaldur decided he didn't do a half-bad job. It could have used a little more coconut milk and the rice was a little softer than he usually preferred, but there would always be a next time. "You went out with Conner today, right?" Wally asked.

"Yeah." Wally looked so curious that Kaldur could not but throw him a bone, sighing inwardly as he noticed the barely-concealed triumph in Dick's eyes. "We had churros." That should be harmless enough.

Wally's eyes lit up at the mention of churros. "I love that place, but Conner never gets anything from there and stands around scowling. The smell of grease makes him ill or something."

Kaldur raised an eyebrow. "He didn't seem to mind so much this afternoon." Dick grinned and this and reached across to poke Wally in the shoulder, wiggling his fingers in the universally-recognised gesture of 'pay me'. Wally gave him a dirty look and said something about his wallet being downstairs before turning back to Kaldur.

"So did he try any?"

"Yeah. He seemed to quite like them."

"Cool. Guess you've recruited a new follower to the church of churros," Wally snickered. "So what else did you two crazy kids do?"

"We danced on the beach, we kissed on the beach and dot dot dot." Wally was listening raptly, food completely forgotten and mouth drooping open in a rather doltish manner. Dick, on the other hand, was struggling to hold in the giggles.

"What? There's no beach in—hang on, what?" Wally was clearly utterly confused now and Dick openly burst out laughing. "You watched Mamma Mia?" Wally's tone was somewhere in between disapproving, shocked and intrigued.

"And you didn't?" Kaldur challenged. After all, Wally hadrecognised the line too.

"I watched it for Pierce Brosnan!" Dick lost all control at this point and laughed so hard Kaldur feared the other lawyer might choke or fall off his chair. Wally turned a deep shade of red and hastily corrected himself. "I mean, Pierce Brosnan's singing!"

"Neither of those is a particularly good reason," Kaldur pointed out dryly.

Dick raised an eyebrow, smirk playing across his lips again. "So there was kissing?" He asked slyly.

Kaldur gave him a look of mock surprise. "Of course not! What kind of girl do you think I am?"

"Stop, stop!" Wally yelped, both hands flying up to cover his ears. "I don't want to know!" Kaldur smiled to himself and continued eating, letting Dick take over the task of teasing Wally. Then Kaldur decided it was his turn to ask a few questions. After all, surely Dick wouldn't object too much if he and Wally bonded a little, and he really did want to get to know the redhead better. After catching the other's attention with a few questions about Flash and what his schedule was like, Kaldur slowly steered the conversation around to his personal life. Thankfully, Dick didn't seem to be too aware of the direction in which he was headed and easily leaned against Wally's shoulder, content to let his friend do all the talking.

"So what were you two up to today then?" Kaldur asked.

Dick made a small noise as Wally shrugged. The other absently patted his head in apology and grinned at Kaldur sheepishly. "Food coma," he joked in a mock-whisper. "We didn't really do much today. Lots of people book a session on Saturday so the gym's usually full, and one of the girls had to take a day off to show her mother around town so I was busy manning the reception desk the rest of the time." Dick made a small, disgruntled noise but didn't move or say anything else. Wally smiled fondly at his friend. "Dick's just annoyed I wasn't around to wait on him hand and foot. He's a diva."

"'M not annoyed," the other mumbled sleepily. Wally ignored it and continued talking.

"You should come along next time. Zee knows all the best places to explore in London. I'll give you a call next time." Kaldur thanked him, but was careful not to get sidetracked.

"Is Dick staying over tonight too?" Wally looked down at his friend and nodded.

"Yeah. He doesn't have anything planned for the weekend. Hey, maybe we could all go catch a movie tomorrow! I've been dying to see that Sherlock Holmes movie. You want to do that tomorrow, Dick?" He nudged at the other man, who for all intents and purposes appeared to have dozed off for a moment. The dark-haired man mumbled something sleepily and nuzzled in closer to Wally. Kaldur felt as though he were intruding on a private moment and stood up, intending to gather up the dishes.

"Thank you for keeping me company," Kaldur said politely as he reached for Dick's plate. Wally pushed it towards him with one free hand, all the while making sure not to disturb his friend. "I hope you're full."

"Are you kidding?" Wally asked. "Curry's always good. I'll take you by Brick Lane sometime; it's known for doing some of the best curries here. Have you had a chance to explore London lately?" Kaldur nodded.

"Roy took me by most of the major tourist landmarks – the Tower of London and so forth. I haven't really been around the city much by myself though," he confessed. "I've practically been living in between the office and here."

Wally chuckled at this. "Well, so much the better for us then. We'll go catch a movie – you like Sherlock Holmes, right? – and drop by Megan's afterward. And maybe I can show you how to get to Flash on the way back. The month's almost up, right?" Kaldur blinked; he'd mentioned that detail in passing to Wally, but he hadn't exactly expected the redhead to remember.

"Yes…"

"Then it's settled," Wally said firmly. "You're coming out with us tomorrow. Dick's not much of a morning person so we'll just say…11am? There should be a showing at 11.30. I'm heading out for a run at seven, so you're welcome to join me then if you like but otherwise 11am downstairs."

"Thank you," Kaldur said, unsure of how else to continue. "That sounds like fun. " Wally beamed at him.

"No worries," he said immediately, one hand absently reaching up to stop Dick from sliding off of his shoulder. "Sounds like you could use a break, and it's not like you have internet or cable or anything really."

Dick and Wally saw themselves out, the redhead promising to call when they were about to head out and Dick sleepily nodding at Kaldur, still curled around Wally like an over-affectionate cat. Kaldur wondered what had brought this on; there was no alcohol in the curry and Dick didn't seem like the kind of person to openly display affection. Had he perhaps missed something? Or perhaps his neighbours' Saturday had been more eventful than he thought, although admittedly if he'd just gotten together with his best friend, he probably wouldn't be up in a neighbour's apartment having dinner. Not that he would know, of course.

As he crawled into bed that night, he heard a faint beep from the desk. It was his phone, showing one new message from Conner. _Goodnight. _Kaldur went to sleep with a smile on his face.

Kaldur woke up the next morning to hear someone hammering furiously at the door. He hastily leapt out of bed and flung it open, only to discover Wally standing on the other side, fully dressed in a yellow and red outfit that made his eyes hurt just a little. "Wally?"

The redhead saw that he was clearly still half-asleep and burst into a flurry of apologies. "I'm so sorry Kaldur," the other babbled. "God, you must think I'm a complete psycho now – you get punched out before even getting in through the front door, I'm chasing Dick in nothing but a towel and now I wake you up early to go running even though you definitely didn't want to go—" Kaldur held up a hand calmly.

"Wally, breathe." Wally's mouth snapped shut but he was still bright red. "It's no big deal. I don't usually go to the gym or wake up early on Sundays, but I'm not about to get angry if you wake me up. I'll come next time though. And I will see you and Dick downstairs at 11." He gave Wally his best 'trust me I'm a lawyer' smile and waited for the other to formulate an appropriate response. Wally stammered out another hasty apology and practically sprinted down the stairs. Kaldur smiled in amusement and hastily returned to his room, shivering slightly.

Kaldur next woke up to the sound of his mobile phone ringing. He staggered out of bed feeling far sleepier than he should and picked it up, not even bothering to look at who was calling. "Hello?"

"Hey!" It was Wally again. "We're headed downstairs now. See you in a few minutes!" He hung up before the lawyer could reply. Kaldur cast a bewildered glance at the clock, only to find it read 10.55 in bright red numbers. He stared at it slack-jawed for a moment before making a dash for the bathroom.

"Sorry," Kaldur gasped out as he practically flew out of the townhouse onto the street. "I overslept." Dick looked amused and Wally looked like someone had just stabbed his puppy.

"Did you…?" The other asked and Kaldur just knew what the question was about.

"Yes. It seems I went back to sleep and didn't wake up in time." Kaldur ducked his head in embarrassment while Dick just grinned and poked Wally.

"Told you he wasn't going to like you bothering him at such ungodly hours."

Wally pretended not to hear the other and turned to face Kaldur. "I'm sorry about that – do you need us to wait?"

Kaldur shook his head. "It'll be fine. But an early lunch would be nice." Wally beamed.

"Absolutely. I'm starving."

"When aren't you?" Muttered Dick, receiving a discreet elbow in the ribs from Kaldur for his pains. Wally had already taken enough verbal abuse for the time being.

They made their way up the streets around Angel, Dick and Wally keeping up a running commentary on all the attractions they passed. Kaldur vaguely remembered coming here with Roy, but knew that should be left here alone, he would likely become hopelessly lost. The three of them ended up at a tiny restaurant that appeared to be some sort of tribute to 'The Breakfast Club', its walls covered with posters and 80s paraphernalia. He supposed he could appreciate the quirky charm of the place. When their meals arrived, Kaldur dug in heartily. It had been a long time since dinner.

Wally and Dick kept up an almost-continuous stream of chatter, squabbling about the oldest pub in London ('It's the Cheshire Cheese, I'm telling you!') and discussing some of the more dubious establishments in Camden ('Robin needs some new heels for the Wayne & Co party next month'). Kaldur let the information slip through his consciousness, paying special attention to any pub names so that he could go there with Roy next time, and wondering if he should ask for the names of a few good restaurants. He couldn't very well completely ignore Conner, after all.

"How's the French toast?" Dick asked.

"It's good," he mumbled around a mouthful of cinnamon-sweet goodness. He hadn't had such an unhealthy breakfast in a while, either. "Not too sweet."

"You should try the Fully Monty next time. It's pretty filling." Kaldur shot a sidelong glance at Wally's full plate and wondered if the redhead was seriously going to finish everything.

"I think I'll pass. I don't do well in a food coma. And what's that?" He asked, noticing the od black lump perched on one side of the plate. Dick turned to look as well.

"What's what?"

"The strange black thing on the right."

"Black pudding."

"What's it made of?"

"Blood."

Kaldur slowly moved away from the plate whilst Wally chewed in obvious gastronomic bliss, oblivious to everything around him except the existence of food. The rest of brunch passed in a flurry of food, coffee (he noticed that Wally went straight for the orange juice) and soon they were done with brunch. Kaldur snagged a business card as he left, wanting to remember how to find this place so that he could bring the family here next time. It was cosy and cheerful and what more could he ask for?

They made their way up to the cinema and arrived just before the one-thirty show was due to start. With an ease obviously born of long-practice, Wally made a beeline for the snacks whilst Dick slipped away and reappeared moments later, brandishing three tickets to Sherlock Holmes. When asked how he'd managed to get through the queue so fast, the lawyer bared his teeth in a mischievous grin and replied, "Tricks of the trade."

Before they entered the theatre, Wally suddenly made them stop and hold his food. "We have to take a picture," he explained before fishing out his phone and tossing it to a surprised Finnish tourist. After a bit of gesturing and shuffling around so that the Coke didn't spill all over Dick's shirt, they managed to get a satisfactory photo in front of the Sherlock Holmes poster just outside Theatre 5. "It's your first film in London, And I need a souvenir."

Kaldur had not watched the first film, but he had read the books and part of him did rather like the thought of heading by Baker Street just to check out the museum. Roy had refused to take him, saying that the place reminded him of a date gone sour. The movie, however, turned out to be nothing like the books. In a good way, of course; as long as he didn't try and connect the events in the film to anything Conan Doyle ever wrote, he could easily sit back and enjoy the ride.

"So?" Wally eagerly asked when they made their way out into the autumn sunlight, blinking and stretching. "How was it?"

"It was good," Kaldur replied. "Although I really want to go to 221 Baker Street now just to look at the place." The other two laughed at this.

"We're going to see Megan," Wally said as they headed for the tube station. "She's been asking about you for a while now. I think she's worried that you don't have enough to eat or something."

They had to change lines at King's Cross and Kaldur felt somewhat proud of himself for mastering the complex network of lines that made up the London Underground. It was thankfully not as hot today, and Kaldur looked around for the usual crowd of people he had come to associate with King's Cross before realising with a start that of course it was quieter, it was a Saturday afternoon. As the tube had no cell phone reception, the three of them passed the ride to South Kensington making idle conversation.

Kaldur felt a small stab of pride when they stepped out of the tube station and looked around, recognising some of the places he'd been to with Roy. He recognised the shady, tree-lined street that led out to the main road and the front of the V&A, and started walking. He remembered Megan mentioning that her shop was fairly close by. "Hey, Kaldur, where _you_ going?" He turned to see Dick and Wally headed in the opposite direction. "Megan's shop is this way," Dick explained. Wally was already long gone and the dark-haired lawyer smiled. "It's okay. We'll catch up to him…eventually."

Megan's shop turned out to be situated on the main road and Kaldur could see the distinctive Underground sign in the distance. He frowned and looked around, ready to ask Dick just where they'd gone and realised that the darker man had disappeared off somewhere again. He sighed and slowly walked to the front of the shop, looking up at the yellow and pink sign that proudly proclaimed, 'Hello Megan!' His memory stirred a little - where had he seen that phrase before? – and he walked in to see Megan chatting to Dick and simultaneously pulling out a .

As soon as he saw the poster over the counter, Kaldur remembered where he'd seen the phrase. The bakery was done up in classic wholesome '50s sitcom style, right down to the disgustingly cheerful pastel blue lamps and diamond-patterned wallpaper. Megan's smile grew wider upon seeing Kaldur and she said something to one of the other girls at the counter before hurrying out. "Kaldur! How are you?"

"I'm fine. I told you I would come by."

Megan laughed. "Indeed! And just in time too; I just finished a new batch. The daily deals are up on the board and there are menus at each table. Take your time!" She bustled off again and the three men were left to look for a spot to sit. They stood around awkwardly for a while, looking over all the tables to see if anyone was about to finish up, but no one appeared ready to leave just yet. Megan bustled over a few minutes later. "Hello Megan! There's a table at the back that just asked for the bill and we'll get it cleaned up in a minute; I'm so sorry about this. It's just that we're going through the late afternoon rush, so it's quite busy at the moment."

True to her word, Megan kept an eye on the table and the three of them were soon settled in. A purple-haired waitress hurried over to take their orders, asking Dick if he wanted 'the usual' and simply scribbling away on her notepad when Wally rattled off a string of names, some of which Kaldur had never heard before. In the end, he opted for a Sea Salt and Caramel cookie, seeing as it was the daily special and the waitress was starting to look a little impatient. Their orders arrived shortly, with Kaldur's still slightly warm from the oven.

With Wally happily preoccupied tackling the mound of cookies in front of him (the thing resembled one of those challenge dishes restaurants in the US liked to serve), Dick simply sipped at his coffee and stared at Kaldur with his blue, blue eyes and a sly grin on his face. Kaldur refused to be intimidated and the two of them sat in their private staring contest until Wally came back up for air. "Robin," the other man mumbled in between bites and held out a cookie, "I got lemon. Want it?" Dick made a grabby motion with his hands, attention momentarily diverted to his best friend. Kaldur took this time to break a piece off his own cookie and popped it in his mouth.

It was delicious, he'd give Megan that. And he could certainly see how food critics lauded the combination. But it just wasn't his cup of tea, so to speak. He'd much prefer a nice, normal cookie like the oatmeal and raisin his grandmother used to make. Or another macadamia cookie. Those were good too.

"Hi everyone!" Megan pulled up another chair and sank into it with a sigh of relief. "It's always so busy now, it's a wonder I get any baking done!" Wally grinned at her and draped an arm over her shoulders.

"It's okay darling, you can come bake with me any time." Paired with the ridiculous eyebrow wiggle, Kaldur looked over to Dick expecting to trade amused looks but instead saw the other staring at his cooling coffee. He made a note of this and turned to smile at Megan, who was gently disentangling herself from Wally's grip.

"So how long have you been here?"

Megan beamed proudly. "Close on four months now. I opened up shop in Highbury initially, but decided to move here since we were doing well."

Kaldur was impressed. "Must have been some cookies."

"I know, right? I think we fit well with the clientele and we're not too expensive, so it's a good place for all the students and tourists to come to for a coffee and a snack without getting utterly ripped off by a tourist trap."

Dick gave a small, wry smile. "Well, we all gotta eat somehow."

Megan nodded amiably. "So how are you finding London? Settled in yet?" Kaldur smild and told her about the time he'd set off to get a bite to eat during lunch hour and ended up hopelessly lost just five minutes later. The girl laughed and leaned back in her chair, confessing that when she'd first come to London, she too had ended up hopelessly lost every time she'd ventured out of the door.

"Where are you from?" Kaldur asked in surprise.

"I was born in Cardiff, but moved to Sheffield to live with my uncle when my parents met with a car accident." Seeing the embarrassed look on Kaldur's face, Megan hastened to explain further. "It's okay. I've come to terms with everything and my uncle's absolutely lovely, so it's not like I had a difficult childhood or anything."

Kaldur nodded slowly. "So why move up to London?"

"More business opportunities, of course," she immediately replied as though this was an obvious answer. "Plus, I wanted to strike out on my own after university, and what better place to do that than here in London?" She gestured around at the shop. "So what made you decide to come over?"

"I didn't initially," Kaldur honestly replied. "Roy told me there was an opening for a lawyer with American experience over here and I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn more."

Wally whistled. "Have you ever been to London before?"

Kaldur shook his head. "I'm very lucky to have Roy," he said. "The farthest away I'd been from home before this job was going to university three hours away. I could just get in the car and drive home whenever I wanted."

Dick shrugged. "It's nice to be able to go home whenever you want," he remarked casually, "but after a while you get used to being on your own and not having to account for anything to anyone else."

Kaldur nodded; he felt exactly the same way when he'd moved back home after graduating from law school. "Exactly. And I figure it's better to get the international experience now, when I don't have any other obligations, rather than have to transfer an entire family back and forth." Everyone nodded in agreement at that.

"Speaking of Roy, how is he doing?" Dick asked. Kaldur noticed that Megan sat up a little straighter too.

"He's fine. He needs a couple of days to simmer down, so I'll probably give him a call tomorrow. I have no idea what came over him."

Megan gave him a small smile. "Say hi to him for me," she said brightly.

Kaldur promised to do so and turned the conversation to a less dangerous topic; he noticed that Wally's face was still a little tight at any mention of Roy. "So I've discovered pub quizzes," he said casually. He didn't mention that Roy had been the one to introduce him to them. "I don't suppose any of you would care to join me?"

"What, this evening?" Wally asked immediately. Even Dick, who had up until now appeared mildly interested in the conversation but not wholly invest, perked up a little. He guessed it was just something about good old-fashioned competition that sparked something in the other lawyer.

Kaldur shrugged. "I was thinking more along the lines of sometime later this week, but tonight is fine. Would you like to come along too, Megan?" He asked.

"Sorry," the other said apologetically, "I've already made plans to go out with Cassie and some of the other girls tonight. Maybe some other time?"

"Of course. Have fun."

Megan beamed. "Thanks! You too."

Dick and Wally shared a glance and the corner of Dick's mouth twitched upwards. "Let's go by the Green Knight," he suggested. "It's just around the corner from here and I know for a fact that they do decent food and a Sunday quiz."

Kaldur smiled. "That sounds like a good idea."

"In that case, I'll let you go. I have to get back to work anyway." Megan stood up and gave them all a smile. "Thanks for coming over and maybe next time we can all go out for a pub quiz. We'll make a night of it." She stood up and returned to the counter, saying something to the pretty blonde and getting a smile in return. Wally gave a loud sigh and stared openly at her, causing Dick to elbow him and glare.

"Behave," the lawyer hissed in an uncharacteristically sharp way, "You look like a creeper."

Wally shot his friend an exasperated look but refrained from ogling Megan too openly after that. Kaldur gave the two another puzzled look but Dick's expression was completely unreadable, whilst Wally's showed mild annoyance. He wondered what could have possibly caused Dick to lose himself like that; the other did not strike him as the kind of person who let his feelings show easily.

After paying the bill, Kaldur found himself wandering through a crowded Harrods in the company of Dick and Wally, seeing as it was still quite early and none of them were hungry yet. It struck him as bizarre that a store should market itself as quintessentially British when there were absolutely no British customers at all; no matter where he went was the distant murmur of French, German, Spanish, Mandarin and a multitude of other languages that he could not identify surrounded him. He was also hard-pressed not to stare at some of the objects on display; who on earth would buy a rhodium-plated mobile phone, or a pen that was apparently capable of doing everything short of bathing you? Then they arrived in the menswear department, where Dick promptly dashed over to the nearest rack and began riffling through the jackets, occasionally pulling one out to examine it with a critical eye. In the meantime, Wally settled himself in one of the small chairs scattered around the place and motioned for Kaldur to sit next to him. "He gets like this now and again," the redhead explained. Kaldur raised an eyebrow and watched Dick happily chatting to one of the sales clerks, saying something about grey instead of navy and could they possibly make the jacket less broad in the shoulder?

Wally grinned over at Kaldur. "Not considering buying a suit then?" He asked easily.

Kaldur shook his head. "Not unless I emptied out my savings account and then some. I imagine this place would bankrupt me in a heartbeat."

"Surely not," Wally scoffed. "You're a lawyer, don't you guys get paid enough already?"

"I'd rather not blow my pension on a new suit, thanks," Kaldur dryly replied. "So I guess you don't really come here that often?"

Wally smiled. "No. I think Dick comes here a bit more though; Tim has a thing for the pastries here and there's a good seafood restaurant a few blocks down, so they come by every so often."

"Who's Tim?"

Wally blinked and then relaxed, although Kaldur noticed that the redhead shot a quick look over at Dick. "He never mentioned Tim?"

"Not that I remember," Kaldur said, fervently hoping Wally would tell him more. His colleague was tight-lipped about his personal life, although he had no qualms discussing his university life or his other friends.

"Tim's his younger brother. He's at Oxford now, but he usually comes back for the holidays. He and Dick are pretty close."

Kaldur looked over to where Dick was still negotiating with the sales clerk. "He doesn't really talk much about his family," he said finally.

Wally nodded. "Yeah, he's a pretty private guy. But, uh, in case you're wondering, I reckon he'll get around to telling you sooner or later. You're with us, after all." He gave Kaldur a big grin at this. "And he likes you."

Kaldur felt a small spark of warmth in his chest. "He's a good person."

"One of the best."

"So what about you then?" Kaldur asked, curious to know more about Wally. Besides, if the clock on the wall was correct, they still had close to half an hour before they needed to head back and find Megan, and Dick didn't look anywhere near done with choosing a suit (or four). "Why did you decide to come to England?"

"Did my undergraduate at Johns Hopkins, but I got the chance to go on exchange and only picked this place because all the other programmes were full. I liked it here, and then of course things got better when Robin decided to work here as well, and neither of us wanted to be apart for too long so I figured I'd come here. Besides, UCL has awesome facilities and it's not exactly a great hardship to wake up every morning in the heart of London."

"So would you have come here if Dick wasn't around?"

"Maybe. I would have definitely applied to more American universities, though, if only for the potentially better financial aid. Tuition fees are crazy for international students, you know? But thankfully Dick knew of a few scholarships I could apply for, so I just sent off a whole bunch of applications, snagged one and well, here I am."

"So what will you do after this?" Wally paused for a moment and Kaldur wondered if the other had even thought that far. Then again, he was sure that some company would find a use for Wally's talents.

"I'm not sure yet," the other finally said. "My parents are hoping I'll go back home and find a job suitably close by, but I mean, how many job openings are there for physicists in Kansas, right?"

"What do you want to do?" Kaldur felt like a bad careers counsellor as soon as the words left his mouth, but from the look on Wally's face he'd probably been asked that question numerous times.

"I don't know," the other answered finally. "My academic advisor right now is working on some side projects hoping to get something published, so I'm helping him out as much as I can in my spare time and hoping that he'll give me a few good leads or at least some advice on where to look. I'm really hoping for a position doing research somewhere though. NASA would be awesome, though I hear they're more interested in engineers these days, but we can't all work for the space programme right?"

"I could ask Roy for you," Kaldur offered. "He works for Queen Industries; he mainly handles financing and the business aspect of things, but he might be able to point you in the direction of a few good companies looking for researchers."

"Really?" The other asked eagerly. "That'd be great! Uh, but only if it doesn't inconvenience him or anything," he quickly added. "I mean, I'm sure Roy's really busy and he probably won't remember me—"

"It's fine," Kaldur said. "He's prickly, but he'll help if he can. I'll see if he's got any ideas and let you know, all right?"

"Thank you," Wally said, gratitude written all over his face. "It'd be great to get some more names even."

"Of course," Kaldur told the other. "It's pretty tough to catch a break in science I hear."

Wally gave a small, self-deprecating laugh. "Yeah," he admitted. "My parents weren't too happy at first, but my uncle encouraged me to go for it and I can't really see myself being happy anywhere else really. I mean, worst case scenario, I end up as a high school teacher right?" Kaldur somehow doubted things would come to that, but he smiled and nodded anyway.

"I'll be sure to let you know if any leads come up," Kaldur said. Wally gave him a quick squeeze around the shoulder, green eyes shining.

"Thanks."

Right on cue, Dick appeared in front of them. "Having a good time?" He asked.

"Oh, absolutely," Wally replied, "just sitting here and chilling. You know how it is. You buy anything?"

Dick chuckled. "Just a new suit jacket and a few ties. You can never have too many ties. Or belts. What time is it?"

"5.45." Kaldur quietly supplied. "We should get going." Dick nodded.

"We can go as soon as Elizabeth sorts my receipt out and confirms the tailoring arrangements," the other replied. "Shouldn't take too long." A blonde girl bustled forward and handed Dick a few sheets of paper and an olive green bag.

"Here you go, Mr. Grayson," she said cheerfully. "The white slip is the receipt for all your purchases. The pink slip is the tailor's confirmation, and you'll be able to pick your jacket up next Thursday at any time after three pm. Just be sure to bring the receipt back and show it to us."

"Thank you, Elizabeth," Dick told her. "You've been a great help."

"It was absolutely no trouble at all, Mr. Grayson. Thank you for shopping at Harrods and see you again soon!"

Dick was more than happy to show them his purchases on the way to the pub. When they sat down, Dick pulled out two more ties from the Harrods bag and placed them in front of Wally. "Here you go," he told the other man cheerfully. "I know you have that Physics dinner coming up, and I know for a fact that you were planning on buying some new ties anyway, so here you are."

"What? Robin, you didn't have to. I was going to go shopping on Friday—"

"Don't be silly," the other said briskly. "Friday nights on Oxford Street are a nightmare, and you can't show up to a big dinner in a cheap Primark tie. Plus, you hate shopping."

Wally looked slowly at his friend. "Yes, but I don't need you to buy anything for me."

"Think of it as an early birthday present."

"My birthday's not until next year."

"Well, Christmas present then. Whatever makes your little heart feel better."

Kaldur tuned out the rest of the conversation and turned his attention to the menu. It consisted of what he assumed was standard British pub fare and some pasta. Having made up his mind, he looked up to see Wally sigh and take the two neatly-wrapped ties and pull them closer to him. Dick then produced another, smaller green Harrods bag. "I took the liberty of asking for an extra bag so you wouldn't drop everything," the other explained with a grin. Wally simply slipped both ties into the bag, hanging the entire thing over the back of his chair. Kaldur pushed the menu towards the other two.

"Pick something – I've already decided. " Wally simply pushed the menu towards Dick.

"I'm good," the redhead explained. "I usually get the same thing."

They quickly placed their orders and then Wally excused himself to go to the bathroom, leaving Dick and Kaldur alone at the table. Since the dark-haired man didn't seem to be in the mood for small talk, Kaldur looked around the pub. It was a small, cosy place with tables and chairs haphazardly strewn over the floor. Light came from a number of strategically placed lamps and a collection of old chandeliers, some of which looked like they could use a good dusting. Overall, the place seemed more intimate than the one he'd been to with Roy. "It's an old house," Dick suddenly said.

Kaldur blinked. "Sorry?"

"This pub. It used to be a house before someone bought it and converted the place into a pub. There are lots more like it around London." He paused for a moment. "You looked intrigued."

"It's comfortable."

"This is England," Dick joked, "Any unused standing structure automatically becomes a pub. Fact."

Kaldur chuckled. "Fond of pubs, are we?"

"Don't tell me you've never noticed the people littered all around King's Cross come happy hour."

Kaldur shrugged in agreement and settled a little deeper into the seat. "So how did you find this place?"

"Megan recommended it, actually. She said sometimes she and her colleagues came here for after-work drinks and dinner."

Megan hadn't struck him as the type to drink at all, but Kaldur nodded. "So who took you to your first English pub quiz?" Dick asked.

"Roy." Kaldur shrugged. "Well, who else would I go with if not you?"

"Did you enjoy it?"

"I think it was more the company than anything else. So how about you? What were you up to last week? I remember seeing you heading home."

Dick nodded. "Yeah, I had to do the laundry. And go see my family. You know how it is."

Kaldur wondered what Dick's family was like. "Family dinner?" He asked.

"Yeah – it's not a regular thing but my dad does like to get the whole family together every now and again."

"The whole family?"

Dick gave him a look and then shrugged. "Yeah. I have two brothers."

Kaldur wasn't sure whether he should reveal that Wally mentioned one of them, but decided to let the other continue. "Sounds like you're pretty close."

"Close enough to remain in the same city, sure."

"How old are your brothers?"

"One's turning 22 this year. The other's barely 16."

"Huh. Sounds like fun."

Dick grinned. "You have _no_ idea."

Wally chose that moment to return, accidentally walking into a lamp along the way just to ensure his presence was noticed. "Dammit! What'd I miss?"

"Family talk."

The redhead nodded, shooting an inquiring glance at Kaldur. He shrugged in reply. "Sounds like fun."

"It is." Dick bared his teeth in what Kaldur supposed could pass for a smile amongst sharks. "Do continue, Kaldur. What's your family like?"

There wasn't anything to say, really. "Just me and a younger brother. He's married and working for an accounting firm back in LA. Married with triplets, in case you were wondering."

Dick looked like he wanted to ask something else, but Wally cut in. "Sweet! How old are they?"

"They're turning seven in June."

The redhead's eyes glazed over. "That must be great. They're so cute at that age."

Kaldur chuckled. "They are. And they don't talk back, either."

"Bet you miss them."

"Somewhat. I don't miss Saturday evenings babysitting though."

Dick jumped in at this point. "Really? Saturday evenings? You can't be serious. Even Wally and I have Saturday evening plans."

Kaldur raised a challenging eyebrow. "You do? Because if I recall correctly, neither of you seemed to have been particularly active yesterday apart from running up and down the stairs and eating my food."

"Sure! We stay in, watch weird movies – seriously Wally, Wicked Scary? – and get enough takeout to single-handedly keep Lucky Chang's in business. Those are plans. Please say you at least had some help babysitting."

"No, just me, myself and I. And the Animaniacs."

Dick leaned back, wearing the most unimpressed expression Kaldur had seen on his face yet, although he was sure the other was simply teasing him. "Huh. And here I was, thinking you were going to have some good stories about nights out in LA. You can't seriously tell me you were in one of the biggest party cities on the West Coast and didn't go out."

"Sure I did. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. So it's better you just think I was staying at home taking care of my nephews and niece."

"That's what you think."

"That's what I _know._"

Wally snickered. "So seriously Kaldur, good-looking guy like you spends his Saturday evenings babysitting for family? I don't believe it."

Dick shot Wally another sharp look but the redhead didn't seem to notice. Kaldur decided to stop the joking around; he had a feeling that if it continued in this vein for any longer someone would end up in tears. "Then I'm afraid that short of making you speak to my brother or his wife, there is nothing else I can do to convince you."

"So no girlfriend then? Or boyfriend?" That was Dick.

Kaldur met the other's cool gaze evenly. "I had a girlfriend. And then a boyfriend."

"Really? For how long?"

"Which one?"

"The former. Or the latter. Or, even better, both." Dick's voice was as light as ever, but Kaldur knew there was something else behind those questions. Even Wally looked interested in the proceedings.

"Well, my first relationship was with a girl in high school. We dated for two months, then my family moved and I had to change schools because we were no longer living in the same district. And then I figured that I kinda liked watching the school quarterback for more than just his awesome throws too and it was a pretty progressive environment, so I was pretty happy with him for six months. Then we graduated high school and my…the quarterback and I decided we made better friends than anything else, my ex-girlfriend showed up as my brother's date for prom and I figured perhaps it was best to behave myself and get through college first." Wally and Dick both winced.

"Harsh," the redhead commented. "So, uh, your ex-girlfriend…"

"Is now my sister-in-law." Kaldur finished. "I don't hold any grudges," he added quickly in case the other two misunderstood. "She's happy, he's happy and they have a wonderful family. Besides," he continued, throwing in a pinch of humour for good measure, "I get to be the cool uncle who's always got stories to tell and great Christmas presents." The other two smiled a little, although Dick's gaze was still hawk-sharp.

"Well then," Wally said, "We'll have to take you by Hamley's sometime. They have the best toys. Can't let you lose your cool uncle status, right?"

"They're pretty happy about that Platform 9¾ photo I sent them a while back, so I think I'm safe for now."

"Always a good thing," Dick agreed. "So how did you meet Roy in the first place?"

"We were dorm neighbours." Kaldur smiled at the memory. "Postgrads get single rooms, so come dinner time on the first day he knocked on my door – it was right opposite his – and the entire thing collapsed. I was sleeping at the time and it scared the life out of me. He insisted on paying for the repairs and the rest, as they say, is history."

"Obviously his anger management issues were developing right on track," Wally dryly commented.

Kaldur shrugged. "Say what you will about Roy, but he's a decent person. He has a hot temper that gets the best of him sometimes, but he's honest, loyal and he'll never let you down. That's more than can be said for a lot of people." Wally nodded.

"Sounds like someone else we all know," Dick remarked. Kaldur suddenly felt like he'd missed a very important piece of the conversation. It wasn't a feeling he had often, and he didn't like it.

Their food arrived at that moment and Kaldur picked up his fork, suddenly aware of how hungry he actually was. Lunch had been a long time ago, and even Megan's cookies had clearly worn off. The chicken pie he'd ordered turned out to be absolutely delicious, and when coupled with the gravy was almost positively sinful. He would be paying for it tomorrow morning in the gym, of that he was sure. Speaking of the gym…

"Wally? I don't think we'll have time to head by Flash tonight."

The redhead, who had previously been tucking into his fish and chips with his usual gusto, looked up with cheeks bulging. He tried to say something in reply, but only ended up emitting garbled noises that sounded nothing like human speech. He chewed, swallowed and then tried again. "Probably. I'll take you tomorrow? I get off class early and maybe we could head down in the evening so that you'll have more time to check the place out. Plus, Artemis will be there and I know you were interested in the MMA classes, so it'd be better if you spent some time with her too. That sound okay?"

Kaldur considered it for a moment He would have preferred to hit the gym in the morning, but he supposed it would be better to stop by when he had more time on his hands and could properly view the facilities. Besides, another day wasn't going to hurt too much. "Absolutely. There's no rush, and Artemis gave me her business card so I can always go down myself if you're busy."

Wally shook his head. "No worries," he replied, "I'm a student; having loads of free time comes with the job description."

"That's very kind of you. Thank you."

Wally laughed. "What are friends for?" Then he promptly returned to his food.

The pub quiz started at 9pm, so even after they'd finished eating and ordered another round of drinks, they still had fifteen minutes to go. "You still up for it? Food's not getting to you yet, is it old man?" Dick taunted Wally, who leaned back and claimed that he needed to sleep the food off. The redhead immediately sat up straight again.

"Absolutely not! You know I'm always up for a good competition!"

The three of them are mellow and everything's slightly hazy after the combination of alcohol and filling comfort food (Roy always did say he didn't know how to handle his liquor) and then the bartender's voice rumbled through the entire pub. "All right everyone," the man roared good-naturedly. "Which of you are up to the Green Knight's Sunday Pub Quiz? One pound-fifty to enter, and a shot at bragging rights and fifty pounds to split amongst your team! Raise your hands and Sally here," he gestured at a chubby waitress, "will come 'round and collect the money and hand out the quiz sheets. Remember, no more than six people per team! And all participants, please turn off your fancy mobiles and put them on the table where I can see them! None of this Google nonsense; we're old-fashioned!" Wally's hand shot up in a blur and Sally bustled over, giving the three of them a smile and passing out quiz sheets. Kaldur fumbled for a moment with the coins and then finally handed her two pounds, looking sadly at the fifty-pence coin and wondering if he could perhaps give it to the cab driver tonight. After ten minutes or so, silence descended upon the room as the bartender stood up on a chair, microphone in hand, and proceeded to loudly announce that the Green Knight Pub Quiz had officially begun.

The first few questions were fairly easy. Question number ten? Not so much. "Who," boomed the bartender, "Who was the Season Four winner of Strictly Come Dancing?" A loud groan came from Table Six, punctuated by a few muffled giggles.

"Is that a British show?" Kaldur asked Wally. "Does he mean Dancing with the Stars?" There were a few titters and the bartender roared something that sounded like, "It's quality television!" Dick, apparently tired of wasting time, snatched the paper out of Wally's hands and proceeded to scribble a name.

"Little Dick loves his Strictly Come Dancing, that indeed he does!" Wally cooed happily, wrapping both arms around his best friend and pulling him in for a hug. Dick shoved at him, but to no avail. Then his phone beeped. Without thinking, Kaldur reached out and looked at it. It was another text message from Conner. The bartender growled and everyone booed in disapproval.

"Phones off! Phones off until there's a break or the quiz ends! That means everyone, no exceptions! Unless it's your girlfriend, in which case feel free to share."

"Sorry!" Kaldur hastily set the phone down, but not before seeing that it was a text message from Conner. Great; now his fingers were itching to see what the man had written to him. Part of him figured it was just something about the phone line, but another, smaller part of him hoped that there would be something extra in it too. Dick gave him a questioning look, and Kaldur forced himself to shrug nonchalantly when all he wanted to do was see what Conner had written.

They made it through the first half of the quiz relatively easily, mostly thanks to Wally, who proved to be a veritable fount of knowledge about what he was sure were the most tangential subjects in the world. GDP of Tunisia? Ask Wally. Name of Umberto Eco's last book? Ask Wally. Estimated number of wild elephants roaming freely in Africa? Ask Wally. He was half-tempted to ask the other if he carried around one of those books designed to prep people for Quiz Bowls, but it was irrelevant. When the bartender finally declared an official 'break' (but emphasised that anyone who wanted to use their mobile phones still had to go outside), Kaldur snatched up his phone and made a quick dash for the door, shivering slightly in the crisp evening air and looking at the little screen. Conner had indeed texted to let him know that the cable company would contact him sometime on Monday, and said that he had enjoyed Saturday (particularly the churros). There was no indication of whether he'd like to meet up again.

The second half of the quiz, to put it mildly, was an absolute disaster. Dick and Wally were left scratching their heads almost as often as Kaldur was, and judging from the stumped expressions on other contestants' faces he was sure they weren't the only ones having trouble. When the time came for them to swap papers and mark each others' answers, Kaldur didn't even bother looking at the team who got their paper. Still, Team Three's paper was just as full of blanks, so perhaps they weren't the only ones suffering. The bartender proceeded to read out each answer with a sick sort of glee, relishing the moans and howls and hisses he got whenever he denied someone a point. Kaldur, Dick and Wally came in fifth place with twelve out of thirty, although the three of them were honestly just grateful they'd even gotten anything correct. Much to Wally's satisfaction, the winning team only scored seventeen points, although Dick later pointed out that finishing fifth out of six teams wasn't exactly 'aster'. A quick glance at the clock on the wall told Kaldur that if he wanted to get out of bed at the usual time, he would have to leave soon. Dick immediately agreed and the three of them headed back. Dick didn't even mention going back to Mayfair.

After bidding goodnight to Wally and Dick and confirming that yes, he would come down and get Wally at seven to check out Flash, Kaldur made his way upstairs and got ready for bed. He shot one last glance at his cell phone, sitting innocently on his night table as usual. Then he heard Roy's voice in his head from a long, long time ago. _If you don't say anything, there really isn't a point._ Kaldur groaned and reached out for the small machine, waiting as it slowly loaded and then he texted Conner back. _Thanks. I had fun on Saturday_. He fell asleep wondering whether that would be enough.

* * *

Ugh, remind me never to put teasers ever again because things almost never progress according to plan. Also, this will be the last chapter for a while as I have exams coming up soon and will be tied up for a good long while studying. Thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

Disclaimer: I do not own legal or equitable rights to Young Justice.

A/N: I'm back! Thank you for the comments, favourites etc etc, they really mean a lot to me. Enjoy the next chapter!

* * *

Kaldur was slightly bemused; perhaps Wally had forgotten about their appointment today? He took another glance at the clock; it read 7.15 in bright, blinking numbers. He knew that if he did not leave soon, he would be late for work and that was not a good thing, not after his first day at work (thankfully, no one had called him out on it yet) and the fact that Dick would probably be unhappy at having to wait. Just as he was about to head down to the gym; Flash could wait, he figured, there came a knock at the door. It turned out to be a very sheepish looking Wally.

"Sorry," the other explained, "I overslept." Kaldur decided not to raise an eyebrow at this, since he was sure the other was a morning person, but hey, everyone had their off days. They were soon on their way to the gym, with Wally insisting that they walk because it really wasn't that far. They went through a series of small, winding alleyways and streets, finally ending up somewhere close to Angel (Kaldur could just make out the familiar red, white and blue tube station sign). He looked up at the massive building, which was painted fire-engine red and had a gigantic yellow lightning bolt perched atop its roof like a jaunty hat. "Isn't it great?" Wally beamed.

"It's very impressive," Kaldur agreed.

As soon as they stepped in, Wally practically dragged Kaldur over to the reception desk, which was being manned by a petite Asian girl. "Morning Linda," the redhead greeted her cheerily. "Looking good as ever."

The girl laughed in reply. "Morning," she replied with a smile. "Brought a friend today?"

Wally grinned. "You know it. He's new here, thought Id show him around the best gym in the neighbourhood."

"Are you working on commission or something?" Linda laughed. "Besides, he doesn't look like he needs it." She raked her eyes appreciatively over Kaldur, who silently thanked all the gods above for his dark skin as he felt a slow heat creep over his face.

"Hey now, don't be scaring him off," Wally laughed. "So you reckon you can get my friend set up with a look-see pass?"

Linda smiled and placed a card on the desk. "Already done. "Two pounds, please," she told Kaldur. "It's a deposit; you'll get it back when you return the card. Do let me know if you decide to join."

Wally took Kaldur through the gym, making a special point to stop by the training rooms where most of the classes were held. "You can sign up at the front desk," he explained. "You'll have to pay extra for some of the classes, but those will be marked on the leaflet." Then they reached the main part of the gym, which held all the machines and exercise equipment. "And this," Wally explained proudly, "is my domain." He threw his arms out to encompass the whole of the machine room. "I usually prefer just plain running, but obviously if you're going to insist on staying in an air-conditioned room this is about as good as it gets."

Kaldur smiled a little at that. "I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is."

"Not when the machine can't keep up with me," Wally pouted. He turned to Kaldur with a grin. "So what do you think? Pretty impressive, huh?"

Kaldur nodded. "It looks like a good place to go. And I could use the walk as a warm-up."

"Exactly," Wally agreed enthusiastically. "And you can come join me for a morning workout before you head off with Dick."

Ten minutes later, Kaldur found himself anxiously glancing up at the clock. It was already getting close to 7.45, and he needed to go back home, shower, change and get something to eat before he headed off.

Thankfully, Wally seemed to be aware of his schedule (probably from living with Dick for so long, Kaldur mused) and he found himself practically flat-out running to keep pace with the redhead as they jogged home 'so that you don't skip your exercise routine', the other explained with a grin. They made it back to Number 32 in good time and Kaldur even had time to savour his coffee for an extra five minutes before Dick knocked on his door.

"Ready to go?" The other man grinned.

Dick appeared to be less talkative than usual, preferring to spend the time staring out the window. "Monday morning blues?" Kaldur asked teasingly. Dick simply shrugged in response and went back to gazing at the scenery as it rushed by. The blond lawyer knew something was wrong, but didn't know how to ask; after all, he and Dick still had to work together and he would rather not jeopardise their working relationship.

Come lunchtime, Kaldur was sure that his colleagues had all been replaced by quiet zombies. Even Mr. Allen seemed to be unwilling to talk much, hurrying from meeting room to meeting room. The only person who didn't seem to notice this change was Mr. Wayne, who was as demanding as ever. The LyrenCo case yielded nothing new and just as he was about to leave his desk in search of lunch, his mobile phone rang. "Hello?"

"Mr. Ahm?"

"Speaking, who is this?"

"I'm from ConnectAll phone and cable services, we're calling about the installation of your internet modem and cable box."

"Ah, yes," Kaldur said hastily, momentarily surprised by this sudden change of subject.

"We'd like to arrange a convenient time to come up and handle everything. Would you like us to also help you install the machines? There's no extra price."

"That would be great, thank you," Kaldur replied. "Would, uh, Tuesday evening be convenient?"

"Sorry, sir," the voice on the other end replied. "We're fully booked until next Thursday afternoon. Would that be a good time?"

"I'm afraid I work full-time, so I can't be in the house."

"That's all right," the other replied. "Is there anyone else at home who might be able to answer the door?"

Kaldur thought for a moment. He couldn't ask Dick or Roy; both of them would be too busy. "Can I perhaps get back to you? I'll need to work something out."

"Certainly. My name's David, my friend Conner told me to give you a call and set something up. When you've worked out a suitable time please let us know."

"Thank you, David. And yes, Conner did mention you." The other man had done no such thing of course, but his mother had raised him to be polite, thank you very much.

"No worries. Have a good day now, Mr. Ahm."

"Hey, Kaldur, you want to go get some lunch?" It was Kory.

"Sure. I was just about to head out."

"Kal, you're not going to believe—oh, hey Kory." Dick slipped past the redhead and gave her his best smile. Kaldur could just see the girl melt under his friend's gaze. "Sorry," the other lawyer apologised. "I need to talk to Kaldur."

"Oh, of-of course," Kory stammered out before hastily ducking out of sight, face a bright red.

"Strange girl, that one," Dick commented. "Absolutely lovely too, of course," he added when Kaldur opened his mouth, about to speak out in Kory's defence. "So," he briskly continued, "today, I'm going to take you out for the best quiche you'll have between here and Paris."

They ended up in a tiny French-style cafe, complete with snooty waiters. As they waited for their food, Dick fidgeted with his flimsy paper napkin, shredding and re-shredding it even as he stared at the table determinedly. Kaldur had never seen his friend so unsettled before, but at the same time felt glad that Dick was comfortable enough around him to look discomfited. "Is something the matter?" The blond finally asked, since the dark-haired man didn't seem to be willing to start up a conversation.

Dick's head shot up and his shoulders tensed, as though he was expecting a fight. "I need you to do me a massive favour," he said bluntly. Kaldur was a little taken aback at this, but nodded.

"Certainly."

"Tell Wally I'm not coming back for a while," Dick said. "He's welcome to my stash in the fridge and I've re-stocked, so he shouldn't need any more food for a while. His ironed clothes are on the bed. I've put two of his tracksuit jackets in the airing cupboard; they should be dry come this evening. He can put my stuff in the usual spot; he'll know where it is."

"…What?" Kaldur was utterly bewildered. Dick and Wally had both appeared to be fine with each other last night when they'd all gone home, so what happened after that? Had they fought? He briefly wondered if they'd had some sort of relationship upgrade, but neither of them had been particularly drunk and there didn't seem to be any cause for tension between the two of them. Wally had been fine this morning, cheerful as ever.

Dick huffed in exasperation. "Do I need to write it out for you? Fine. I'll repeat myself again and send you a reminder over e-mail. Wally's welcome to my stash in the fridge—"

"No, no," Kaldur hastily interrupted. "I mean, what's the cause of this sudden announcement? Did something happen?"

Dick ducked his head, wire-rimmed glasses glinting in the yellow light of the cafe. "No," he muttered. "I just…it's private, okay? Just tell Wally that I'm going to be living in my apartment for a while. Gotta break the place in properly, right?"

Kaldur sighed. "No, Dick, I'd like to know what's going on between you and Wally. He seemed perfectly fine this morning when we stopped by Flash, so I can only assume that either he's better at hiding things or something happened between Flash and work. Which one is it?"

"None of your business."

"No," Kaldur agreed amiably. "It really isn't. But I do consider you a friend, and I don't like seeing my friends unhappy. So I'll ask you again: did something happen between you and Wally last night?"

Dick gave him a mutinous glare. "No."

"Then did something happen this morning?"

"…"

"Very well," Kaldur said. "So it happened this morning. Presumably after Wally and I returned from Flash. I'll assume this is a one-sided decision though, since Wally was perfectly fine this morning and you asked me to tell him you wouldn't be staying over at his place for a while."

Dick gave him such a nasty look at this last comment that Kaldur was sure he would have been a mere pile of smouldering ash if looks could kill. "What's wrong with my wanting to go back to Mayfair? It's not like I'm returning to a much more unpleasant environment or anything."

"Wally's not going to like it," Kaldur pointed out. Even he could see the affection that Wally had towards the other lawyer.

"So? He's a big boy; he doesn't need me anyway." The bitterness infusing those last few words said everything.

"Did he say something like that?" Kaldur asked mildly.

"It's ridiculous," Dick snapped. "I mean, it's not like I have anything else to spend that money on. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with buying your best friend presents."

"Of course not," Kaldur blandly replied. He didn't know if Dick really wanted to keep the entire argument a secret, but if venting helped his colleague then so be it.

"I'm not exactly poor, you know? And Primark is absolutely horrible; it's cheap, nasty clothing that'll fall apart the first time 'round. Besides, he's never been worried about accepting gifts before."

"So what's different this time?" Kaldur froze up when Dick gave him a sharp look, worried that he'd broken the spell and his friend would just clam up again.

"Don't know," Dick said shortly. Kaldur cursed himself for speaking too soon. Had he waited just a little longer the other might have revealed more.

"So, I…how did you get the internet and phone line set up at your place?" Kaldur asked. He figured a change of topic might be better. Dick seemed to relax at the question, leaning back in his chair.

"What do you mean? I just waited for them to come over…"

Kaldur sighed. "It's just because the phone company's asking me to essentially stay home on a weekday afternoon…"

Dick nodded understandingly. "When do they want to come?"

"Next Thursday afternoon." The dark-haired lawyer thought for a moment before nodding shortly.

"You could ask Wally," Dick offered. "He's free on Thursday afternoons. He usually likes to use that time to get some lab work done, but if you don't mind lending him your apartment key he could let the phone company in."

"Would that…inconvenience him? I wouldn't want to impose or anything…" Kaldur also thought it strange that Dick would so easily offer up the other after a fight, but he supposed it was the most pragmatic solution.

"Nonsense," Dick briskly replied. "That's what neighbours are for, right? Just ask him tonight and make sure to hand him a key. I'd also recommend stocking up on snacks and whatnot."

Kaldur nodded. "I'll ask him tonight. Thank you, Dick." The other simply shrugged in response.

"So," Dick idly began as they made their way back to the office. "I take it you'll relay my message to Wally?" Kaldur thought for a moment; on one hand, he did not want to get in between Dick and Wally. On the other, he might gain some very useful information from the redhead.

"Fine." Kaldur sighed.

Dick cackled, but even that sounded subdued. "And don't bother pumping Wally for information; I doubt he'll be willing to share. I'll see you at the LyrenCo arbitration briefing this afternoon. You know where to find me."

The rest of the day passed in a blur, with the briefing going smoothly (much to Kaldur's relief) and a new litigation case involving three shiploads of damaged cargo. By the day's end, Kaldur was more than ready to call it a day and head home. After all, he still had to talk to Wally about Thursday afternoon and give Roy a call; his friend had had long enough to cool down now. There was no word from Conner.

Kaldur settled into the couch and opened up the contacts menu, scrolling down until he saw 'Harper, Roy' highlighted on the tiny screen. He closed his eyes, took another sip of coffee and pressed the 'Call' button. His friend picked up almost immediately.

"Harper – talk," the other barked down the phone.

"It's me, Roy. Kaldur."

"Really? I thought it was Glinda. What do you want?"

"I was actually going to ask if you wanted to come over for dinner tomorrow evening. I'll cook."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm busy tomorrow. And the day after. Actually, I'm busy whenever you want to invite me to one of your little gatherings with your kindergarten-aged neighbours and your crush."

"It'll just be the two of us," Kaldur soothed. "Like old times."

Roy paused. "Just us?"

"Of course. I'll even cook Thai."

"You're a wicked, wicked man," Roy said. He definitely sounded amused now. "Fine. But you're buying the booze."

"Certainly. 7.30pm tomorrow then?"

Roy merely grunted assent and hung up. Kaldur leaned back in the sofa and let out a sigh of relief; he was genuinely glad that he would not have to choose between one of his closest friends and a potential love interest. Then he remembered that he had to ask Wally to house-sit for him next week, provided that the phone company still had the afternoon slot open. He thought about calling the redhead, then decided to go down in person instead. He was rather hoping for a little more information on what had transpired between his neighbour and his colleague, after all.

Wally looked slightly confused as he opened the door, but beamed at the sight of Kaldur and invited him in anyway. They sat on the large, squashy black sofa with tea and cookies, Wally munching away happily as though nothing was wrong. Kaldur wondered if perhaps this was a common occurrence, but on remembering Dick's obvious irritation he supposed there was something more to the argument. After all, his colleague didn't seem to be the type of person to let something like a minor argument with his best friend ruffle his feathers. "So, uh, I need to ask you for a massive favour. Would you happen to be free this Thursday afternoon, around 2 onwards?"

Wally raised an eyebrow. "Sure," he mumbled around a mouthful of oatmeal-and-raisin. "I'm always free around then. What do you need?"

"The phone company's coming to get things set up, but obviously I can't be around to let them in—"

"Say no more!" Wally declared. "I'm more than happy to let them in and keep an eye on them while they set up. That is, if you don't mind me sitting around in your house and in possession of a set of your keys."

Kaldur let out a sigh of relief. "Not at all," he replied, "I'm more worried that you'll find it boring there."

Wally grinned. "Boring? Please. I have enough class work to keep me occupied even without Internet access! I did this for Robin too when he was getting settled in that Mayfair apartment. Say, speaking of Rob, did he say anything to you about coming back? I haven't heard from him and he left a lot of stuff here; maybe I should bring it over? I mean, man's got more clothing stashed over here than at his place probably, and—"

Kaldur hoped that Wally wasn't the kind of person who would shoot the messenger. "He said to tell you he wouldn't be coming back for a while." He watched the redhead carefully.

"What?" Wally laughed, but it sounded hollow even to Kaldur. "No way, he left his wok here! Rob'd never leave without his wok! Seriously Kaldur, that's not cool."

"I'm not joking," Kaldur calmly replied. "He says you're welcome to his food in the fridge and that there are two of your tracksuit jackets in the airing cupboard. He would also like you to put his things in the usual spot; I have no idea where that is but he said you would know."

Wally sighed and collapsed on the couch. Kaldur felt uncomfortable and out-of-place in this apartment, but judging from Wally's distraught expression leaving the other alone right now might not be the best thing. "Do you want to talk about it?" The blond carefully asked.

Green eyes bore into him for a moment before Wally turned away and made a grab for the remote control, staring fixedly at the screen even though the film appeared to be in Japanese. "'Sok," the other mumbled quietly. "I'll get it sorted. Thanks. And, uh, drop the keys off on Thursday morning, okay? You can give them to me when we head by Flash."

"Wally—"

"It's fine," Wally sighed and turned back to watch the movie. "Thanks for stopping by. I'll see you tomorrow morning, right?"

Seeing that there was nothing else to be done, Kaldur stood up and made his way to the door. "All right then. Good night, Wally." The other man didn't answer.

He got back upstairs to hear the buzz of his mobile. "Hello?"

"Kaldur?"

"Conner?"

"Hey." The other man sounded relieved. "Uh, sorry about not calling you lately. We've been really swamped for some reason, people wanting to get their engines checked up and whatnot—"

"No worries," Kaldur told him, hoping he didn't sound too overly-enthusiastic. "How are you?"

"I'm good," the other slowly replied. "So Dave said he called you today…"

"Yes, yes he did, thank you Conner. I had to find someone to let him in though, so I couldn't confirm a time."

"I could do it," Conner offered.

"It's okay," Kaldur told the other hastily. "I've gotten Wally to help out, since he lives just downstairs and he's free that day."

"Right," Conner said quietly. "That's, uh, good then."

"Yes, it is," Kaldur said. There was an awkward silence. Kaldur decided to ask right then and there, say it out loud in case Conner didn't get the message the first time. "So I'm probably going to be free this weekend," he said. "I'd like it if we could meet up again."

There was a slight pause. "I'd like that," Conner replied.

"Okay." Kaldur relaxed into the couch. "Is there anywhere good to go? I'm not exactly familiar with the city and I can't really access TimeOut or anything."

He could feel Conner's slight smile on the other end, even if he couldn't see anything. "Depends. I'm not exactly a native here either. I guess we could grab a meal together."

"Okay." Something Wally and Dick had mentioned yesterday sprang to mind. "What's Brick Lane like?"

"Brick Lane? Never been, but Wally and Artemis both swear that all the best curry places are there."

"Perhaps we should put that claim to the test."

"Okay." There wasn't any change in Conner's tone of voice, or a hint of anything other than just a casual acquiescence, but Kaldur had the feeling the other man was smiling. They talked for a while longer and it was only when he glanced at the clock on the wall that Kaldur realised it was close to midnight. Thankfully, the other man seemed to have the same thought and after confirming the details of their trip to Brick Lane Kaldur hastily prepared for bed and fell asleep halfway through planning when to leave work so that he could get dinner ready for Roy.

In spite of the previous evening's argument, Wally still showed up. He was quieter than usual, but the jog to Flash seemed to restore him to a semblance of good humour. When they reached the gym, the redhead immediately set off for the machine room without so much as a backward glance. Kaldur looked around and decided to follow the other; even if the machines were boring, he could at least see if Wally would be more talkative after some serious exercise. Then he ran into Artemis.

"Kaldur! I take it you joined?" The blonde asked immediately.

"Yes," Kaldur smiled. It was good to talk to someone who wasn't mopey (because even if Wally had vehemently denied it on the way to the gym, he was most certainly mopey) or overly mysterious about the entire affair. "Wally brought me here yesterday."

Artemis grinned broadly. "So are you going to come check out the Krav Maga classes any time soon?"

"We'll see; I'm rather busy this week so perhaps next Tuesday…" The blonde girl clapped him on the shoulder.

"Well, why don't you join me in the ring then? We can have a sparring session; you do have previous combat sport experience right?"

"I wouldn't say that…" Truth be told, Kaldur had done kick-boxing all the way through high school and picked up a little Muay Thai in college, but he was sure that those experiences counted for very little against Artemis. Besides, he'd forgotten most of it, he was sure.

The training session proved to be tougher than anything he'd expected. Artemis didn't pull her punches and moved easily around the ring, clearly at ease. Kaldur managed to land a few punches, but he figured those had been more a matter of luck than skill. The blonde didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat, although she did step up her efforts once he landed a punch on her. "Robin at home then?" She asked casually as they both sipped water and rested for a while.

Kaldur shook his head. "If by 'home' you mean 'at Wally's', then no. But if you mean Mayfair, then yes." Artemis looked surprised.

"Huh. I figured Rob would have pretty much moved in by now. Does he even have anything in that Mayfair place of his anymore?"

"Who knows."

Artemis sighed and then grinned at him, dark eyes sparkling mischievously. "But at least things are going well on your end," she teased lightly. Kaldur pretended not to know what, or rather who, she was talking about. He found this avenue of evasion cut off however as Artemis circled him in a fighting stance. He held his ground as she lunged forward, blocking her punches easily.

"You and Conner? Don't tell me there's nothing going on there; you two were arranging your first date the last time if I remember correctly."

"Since you're clearly so up to date on the details, I'll just assume I don't need to say anything more."

"You're no fun," she pouted in reply. Before he could respond, she launched another flurry of punches at him, landing two and then darting away. "Can't always remain on the defensive," she cheerily reminded him and Kaldur tried not to grit his teeth at the reminder, fired at him so many times by both his kickboxing and Muay Thai teachers.

They continued sparring for another five minutes until Kaldur, upon moving away from Artemis' kick, spied a familiar shock of red hair at the corner of the ring. "Ready to go yet?" Wally called up. "I know how you lawyers are about being late for work."

Artemis immediately backed off and tossed him his water bottle. "Good stuff," she told him approvingly. "We could probably put you into the intermediate class."

Kaldur thanked the blonde girl for her help and promised to call, rolling his eyes when she joked about waiving the class fee for details about his and Conner's trip to Camden. "It's not as interesting as you think it is," he told her wryly. This didn't seem to phase her one bit.

Wally seemed to have relaxed a little perhaps the workout did him some good. As they turned into another narrow side street, the redhead asked nonchalantly if he could stop by in the evening. "I need to ask you something; consider it payment for next Thursday." Slightly puzzled, Kaldur agreed and made a mental note to stop off at Waitrose and buy cookies. He didn't want to show up at Wally's empty-handed, even though the other was unlikely to want him to stay for dinner. "We can get takeout or whatever." Well, maybe he did.

Much to his dismay, Kaldur finally discovered the capriciousness that the London tube was capable of on the way to work. The train had stopped somewhere in between Moorgate and Bank for a good twenty minutes, the conductor babbling something about technical difficulties. The lawyer swore he could feel the entire compartment heave a collective sigh of resigned exasperation and leaned against a tiny patch of wall to wait. He silently cursed the British for not putting at least phone coverage in the train, of all things, and hoped that Bruce Wayne was in a forgiving mood this morning.

There was a slight murmur of relief when the train finally got moving again, but much to Kaldur's dismay it was already ten to 9 and there was no way he would possibly make it into the office on time. He sprinted through the lobby and hurried into his office, breathing out a sigh of relief that no one seemed to care. Not even the secretaries outside seemed to notice.

"So glad you could join us this morning." That was definitely Mr. Wayne's voice.

"Sir!" Kaldur practically leapt out of his chair and bit back a curse as his knee collided with the desk leg. That would most certainly bruise. Mr. Wayne watched dispassionately whilst Dick peered at him from behind the older man's imposing figure, all the while shaking like he was desperately trying to stifle a laugh. "Uh, sorry. The train was delayed and—"

Mr. Wayne cut him off mid-explanation. "Don't worry. I heard about the trains on the way in. It happens. Now, about the opposition's ridiculous idea regarding gross negligence…" And that was that. The three of them sat down and soon were locked in a deep discussion on how best to defend LyrenCo's already-precarious position.

As soon as Mr. Wayne had left, Kaldur stood up and stretched. Upon hearing the sound of thundering footsteps, he blinked and went over to the door, only to be knocked back by a brown and white blur. "Sorry!" It shouted as it moved forward.

Kaldur blinked and met the gaze of one of the secretaries. She gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay; it's just Mr. Allen."

Ten minutes later, a ruffled-looking Mr. Allen stepped into Kaldur's office, tie askew and hair sticking up every which way as though he'd just rolled out of bed and gotten dressed. "I meant to take the car," he explained as he strode in. "But of course, Don got there first. Were you affected by the tube difficulties this morning?"

"Yes, we were stuck for quite some time."

Mr. Allen shuddered in sympathy. "Awful predicament," he declared. "Why don't we go get some coffee?"

Kaldur politely declined the offer, as Ms. Lance's file was due in soon and returned to work once more. It seemed that Wally was not the only one who could run fast and still wind up late for everything.

Dick spent the whole of Tuesday avoiding Kaldur. Thankfully, there were no new developments on the LyrenCo case and Kaldur found himself secretly grateful when Mr. Allen called him in, introduced him to another associate named Raquel and proceeded to assign them both to a case involving the potential misappropriation of company funds and a disgruntled ex-director. They took his e-mails and documentation with a grain of salt. As a result, Kaldur spent the day sifting through auditors' documents (complete with horrifically-illegible handwriting and barely-there company chops). His eyes burned and come lunchtime, he was more than ready to have a break. He headed over to Dick's office, intending to ask the other out for lunch as a sort of peace offering, but the dark-haired man shook his head and pointed at the phone. "I'm waiting on a call from Tim," he explained but didn't elaborate any further. Then Kaldur ran into Raquel at the lifts and they wound up eating pub food and discussing their newly-assigned case.

By the time he finally arrived at Wally's door, he was so tired he felt like his eyes were barely keeping themselves open. Nevertheless, it would be rude to stand Wally up and in spite of what his parents taught him abut prying into others' business, he wanted to know exactly what had happened between Dick and Wally. Then Kaldur pulled himself together; he'd only known Dick and Wally for a short time but any blips in their relationship seemed like something unnatural.

The redhead looked just as tired as Kaldur himself felt and it was clear that he missed Dick. Kaldur spotted a yellow tracksuit jacket lying crumpled up in one corner of the living room, whilst a whole stack of textbooks teetered precariously on the tiny dining table. Wally's shirt was covered in some sort of orange paste (some sort of chemical, the other explained later) and the whole place seemed less welcoming. Kaldur immediately made a note to help resolve the situation as quickly as possible; being called a nosey idiot would be infinitely better than watching this sorry state of affairs drag on. He idly wondered if Artemis knew about any of this.

"You're a sensible guy," Wally said as they chewed on their pizza. "So say you're a scholarship student living in London, in a reasonably decent flat. Your monthly stipend's barely enough to keep a mouse alive, let alone a growing human, so you start working a part-time job and write your thesis during your time on the reception desk because there's nowhere else to do it. Still, you're loving it; you love the city, you love your part-time job and you wouldn't have it any other way. Then your rich friend comes in and eventually practically moves in, taking over the couch and whatnot. Things are great because seriously, living with your best friend is like every kid's dream growing up, but then after he gets a look at your accounts he starts insisting on paying for stuff that he doesn't even use and never paid for before. He starts getting you expensive things and insisting that you take them 'because times are tough' like you're some charity case or whatever. So of course you call him out on it, tell him you haven't changed just because you can't always afford to buy nice things or turn down extra hours to focus more on studying, but he just gets mad and claims that you're the one being unreasonable and storms off."

Kaldur wasn't quite sure what to make of the jumble of words spilling out of Wally's mouth, but he guessed that he'd just heard a summary of Monday morning's events and probably a little of the events leading up to it. He wondered if the ties had been the last straw. "What do you think?"

Wally rolled his eyes and leaned back in the chair. "Well, he's out of touch I guess. Growing up rich meant he didn't really need to worry about how he was going to pay the rent or whether his monthly stipend would actually last the month. And I don't understand what brought this sudden change on, anyway. It's not like he didn't have any idea about my situation before he decided to help out financially."

"Maybe he just wants to help in some way."

"I don't need his help! I was doing fine before, I'm still getting Firsts and this is part of student life. I'm happy with this. I don't need him to buy me a hundred-pound Nespresso coffee machine because my old one broke and I don't have the money for a new one or hand-stitched Italian neckties just because I have a black-tie department dinner and don't have anything 'fancy' enough. I don't need to pretend I'm rich when it's someone else's money!"

"Robin didn't mean anything by it—"

"Who said it was Robin?" Kaldur gave the other man a look, under which Wally promptly wilted and focused in on the placemat.

"I know he didn't," Wally mumbled. "It's just that I'm not a charity case. I'm happy this way and I know it sounds stupid, but I want to get through college and school on my own, not on someone else's money."

"There's nothing wrong with accepting Dick's help, financial or otherwise," Kaldur pointed out.

"I know that," the other replied impatiently. "I just don't want to take something from him without giving anything back, and it was only after I told him about my money problems that he decided to help out. So it's not like I'm jumping to conclusions…I hope."

"Well, if Dick came to you one day and told you he was struggling to make ends meet, what would you do?"

Wally rolled his eyes. "Hand him the money, obviously. That's what friends do for each other. And before you go off on your little 'see what you would do for your friends, why is it wrong for Robin to do the same' speech, it's different because he's _used _to not having to worry about money. I'm not. I expected to have to juggle work and school when I decided to come here for postgraduate studies because I can't expect my parents to pay all my tuition fees, especially not for something that requires a good five to six years of further education."

Kaldur thought for a moment. "So you feel that Robin's giving you money implies that he doesn't understand that you're willing and happy to handle financial difficulties in your student life?"

Wally shrugged. "I guess."

"That's a very admirable thing to do," Kaldur replied, unsure of how to proceed. Technically, he shouldn't even be 'proceeding', considering that he didn't know Dick or Wally well enough to come up with a solution that would work for both of then. Thankfully, the other man didn't seem to expect an answer and returned to wolfing down his sixth slice of the night. They sat quietly for the remainder of the evening, Kaldur letting himself out quietly with a bag full of trash when he saw that Wally had fallen asleep on the couch. It would not do to disturb the other.

The next morning, Wally was waiting at his door. "Thanks about last night," he said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to drop off like that."

"Not to worry," Kaldur hastily replied. "I hope it helped." Wally nodded, although the other man noticed that the student's eyes still looked far away as though he had something else on his mind. Artemis had placed herself next to the reception desk today and as soon as she saw Wally and Kaldur enter the gym, she pounced on the two of them and hauled them off 'for some serious exercise', ignoring all of Wally's protests.

For someone who claimed to have no interest in combat sports whatsoever, Wally wasn't half bad although Kaldur just knew that if anyone landed a hit, the redhead would probably collapse on the spot. So he stood bad and stretched whilst watching the fight, waiting for the moment when Wally would tire or Artemis would run out of patience. The other man soon got bored and dodging a final blow, slipped out onto the side and left with a wave. Artemis gave a frustrated huff and turned her attention to Kaldur.

"So when are you going to start coming to classes?" She asked. "We need another person to make up the numbers, otherwise I'll have to step in and substitute and I just can't teach like that."

"I'll let you know when I manage to stop having to stay late," Kaldur dryly responded. "And maybe when I don't feel exhausted after a long day."

"That's exactly why you should come!" The blonde exclaimed. "Exercise is good! It'll make you feel less sleepy and more energetic!"

"That's why I'm here in the morning."

"Well, you get to meet more people. They're a pretty friendly bunch and a few of them are definitely good enough to challenge you a little."

"And you're saying you're not?"

"Please. I'm in a whole different league. Way above you." Kaldur grunted as Artemis landed a gentle blow to his solar plexus.

"I should be so honoured to have you as a sparring partner."

"Damn straight."

They spent the next twenty minutes sparring, Artemis pausing to take a sip of water or correct his stance. The session passed by quickly and Kaldur found himself slightly disappointed when he glancd up at the clock and realised that he would have to leave now or risk being late for work. It had been a long time since he'd been able to lose himself in a fight and not think about anything else. Artemis gave him a wicked grin over the rim of her water bottle. "Like I said; there are plenty more people happy to spar with you if you just come to class."

Kaldur ran into Dick in the main lobby. "So I talked to Wally," he began as they entered the elevator.

"Cool."

"He wants to know if you'd like your wok back. Apparently you're very fond of it."

Dick sighed. "Yeah, I realised that last night. You want to help me retrieve it?" His tone was light, but Kaldur knew that the other was seriously hoping for him to offer.

"No."

"Oh, come on," Dick whined, turning the full force of his blue eyes onto the other man. "Do a fellow lawyer a favour…"

"No. I am not lugging a gigantic wok onto the Tube."

"It's a good wok, I promise it won't even be that heavy…" Dick trailed off when he saw the look on Kaldur's face. "It was worth a shot," he muttered to himself. "Look, I appreciate you trying to get me and Wally to talk to each other, but believe me, it's best if I just give him some space right now."

"I hate to break it to you, but I don't think this is a matter of 'space'," Kaldur dryly responded.

Dick opened his mouth to reply but shut it again promptly when the lift doors opened. He gave Kaldur a nasty glare before disappearing into the office, not even bothering to hold the door for the other man.

He was having coffee with Mr. Allen at the tiny cafe downstairs when his phone rang. Kaldur hastily excused himself and answered. "Kaldie-kins!"

"Mom?" Kaldur was stunned, to say the least. Wasn't it 2am in LA right now?

"Oh, darling, it's been a while hasn't it? I know you're busy and still suffering without internet – when are you going to get that fixed by the way, we're all dying to Skype you and see your new place – so I figured I'd call. You're not busy right now, are you?"

"Actually, I'm at work."

"Oh! Well, I'll just chat for five minutes and then pass the phone over to your dad. He's been having some trouble with the car and I thought perhaps you might know what was wrong with it, seeing as you were always the one with the magic touch on that Ford."

"Mom. I'm at work. Right now. I'm meeting with a colleague." Before his mother could protest, Kaldur hastily added, "I'll call you back. Love you. Bye." He took a deep breath to steady himself and switched the device off before heading back to Mr. Allen, who was grinning at him.

"Hot date?" Kaldur shook his head and hoped his embarrassment wouldn't spur the other on. "No? Ah, well. So how's that cargo case going?"

Kaldur wandered over to Dick's office just before lunchtime, hoping that the other wasn't still too angry at him. After all, he really shouldn't have interfered in the first place, even if he'd wanted to help Wally out in exchange for house-sitting on Thursday afternoon, this was probably not the best way to do it. Kaldur cleared his throat in the doorway and stood there awkwardly as Dick finished scribbling away. "Kaldur! You ready for lunch then?"

Surprised at this sudden change, Kalur slowly nodded. "Yes. I was thinking we could try out that fusion restaurant across the road. It's reasonably-priced and Raquel says the food isn't too bad."

"Sure," Dick shrugged. "Give me a minute?" As he bustled around the room gathering his things, Kaldur marvelled at the other's ability to bounce back. He hadn't thought Dick would enjoy living in Mayfair, but the other looked as though he'd possibly even gained a little weight in the process. He felt a slight breeze and turned to see Dick turn around, having quietly slipped past him. The other lawyer gave him a wide grin. "Let's go!"

"So I went to Flash yesterday," Kaldur began. "And Artemis has been badgering me to sign up for her classes."

Dick grinned. "She does that to everyone. I'd sign up for the Thursday and Saturday sessions though; the people take learning a little more seriously in those ones. And I'd definitely keep an eye out; I know for a fact that most of the senior partners like to go there. Good place to get some networking in, if that's what floats your boat."

Kaldur blinked. "No way."

"Yes way," the other countered. "Flash is kind of like the unofficial Wayne & Co gym."

A shadow suddenly fell over the table. "Robin! Fancy seeing you here! And who is your friend, pray tell?"

Both men turned to see a stunning brunette standing at their table. She gave Kaldur a small, wicked smirk before turning her attention to the dark-haired lawyer. "It's been too long," she said, holding out her arms as though expecting a hug. Dick beamed and stood up, leaning over to hug her.

"Ms. Kyle, long time no see."

She gave him a warm smile. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your handsome friend?"

Dick smirked in response. "Wouldn't dream of anything else. Ms. Kyle, Kaldur Ahm; one of our new lawyers. Kaldur, Ms. Selina Kyle. She's one of the most generous philanthropists this city has ever known and heads up Sotheby's."

"It's lovely to meet you, Kaldur," the woman purred as she extended one immaculately manicured hand for Kaldur to shake. "Where are you from?"

"Los Angeles. I moved here after getting the job with Wayne & Co." Those beautiful blue eyes scrutinised him carefully.

"I love LA," she said. "The glamour, the glitter…and of course, it's so much less chaotic than New York. But how are you finding it here in London?"

They made small talk for a few minutes before exchanging business cards, and she promptly turned her attention back to Dick. Kaldur remained standing.

"And where is Bruce, little bird?" She asked Robin archly.

The other merely shrugged in response. "Big case and he might have to head for Germany soon since he's helping out on a couple of deals. You know how it is."

"Yes, I do," she mused. "But that doesn't give him any right to ignore me. I've been feeling positively…neglected."

Dick smiled. "I'm sure he's thinking of you at every spare moment."

"He'd better be," she playfully replied. "Give him my regards when you see him, will you? And do mention that he still owes me three hundred pounds from last week's baccarat game. Ciao!" She waved at both of them and sauntered off, settling into a tiny corner with another woman, this one with flaming red hair and dressed from head to toe in sharp green.

Dick smirked at Kaldur. "Quite a character, Ms. Selina Kyle," he commented.

"Indeed."

"So I talked to Conner yesterday," Dick began with a smile so wide it was a wonder his face didn't vanish behind it. "And he says that he's going to 'win you over from that ginger bastard'. I am, of course, quoting verbatim."

Kaldur choked.

* * *

Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed this chapter (I know it's a bit slow). Reviews are much appreciated and see you again soon!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: **

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. Not now, and very likely not ever.

A/N: Hi everyone! After a long and busy summer, I'm finally back and gearing up for school soon so I will probably be really busy. Please enjoy the next chapter and thank you so much for your support of this fic!

* * *

Kaldur choked until his eyes were watering and he was starting to fear for his life. Even Dick (or what little he could make out of the other's features from his teary eyes) looked vaguely concerned. Thankfully, it soon let up and he carefully took another sip of water. Dick handed him another flimsy paper napkin and sat back to wait.

"What?" Kaldur finally managed to ask.

"You heard me," Dick replied all-too-cheerfully for someone who'd nearly caused a fellow lawyer to choke to death in a restaurant. "What are your thoughts on the matter?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm totally going to cheat on Roy, who is _straight_, with Conner, who is friends with people who I quite like. Yes, that sums it up nicely." Kaldur hoped the sarcasm in his words was evident.

Dick sighed and leaned back. "Yes, that's what I thought too," he commented idly. "But hey, at least you hit the trinity."

Kaldur gave him what he hoped was an incredulous stare. "The what?"

"The trinity. You know, blonde, brunette, redhead?"

"…"

"Whatever. The point is, what could have _possibly _given Conner that impression?" Dick was humming that annoying Jeopardy tune again.

"I have no idea."

"How about Roy himself? You two are awfully close, after all…"

"Dick. How many times do I have to say this? I am not a cheater. I never have been and I never will be. I am not in a relationship with Roy and rest assured, if I were in any sort of monogamous relationship I would not cheat on the other party."

"So how's Roy feeling about you and Conner?"

"Very good, thank you." That was probably as far from the truth as it got, but Kaldur did not feel like telling Dick anything that might find its way back to Conner or any of the others.

"You sure about that?"

"Positive."

Kaldur let himself savour the tiny amount of pleasure it gave him to see Dick lean back and close his eyes like he always did whenever something about a particularly difficult case stymied him. "I'll set Conner straight soon though, don't worry about that."

"You're seeing Conner again? When?" Dick's level of emotional investment in his and Conner's budding relationship (if it could even be called that) was quite disturbing. Kaldur made a mental note to try and help Wally out; the return of his best friend would almost certainly keep the other lawyer occupied for a while.

"How did you extrapolate that from my words? Also, I believe that's none of your business."

"He's going to tell me anyway."

"So be good and wait."

"I could call him right now."

"Go ahead." Dick pulled out his phone as though to make good, and Kaldur decided this nonsense had continued long enough. "And just so you know, Dick, Wally's absolutely useless with an iron. He had to get Nick from the ground floor to help him out." His colleague stopped dead and sat up again, glaring when he saw the smirk on Kaldur's face.

"He got _Nick_ to help him out with ironing? The man can barely make toast without triggering the fire alarm!" It seemed that one-upping Kaldur took a back seat to Wally's troubles with basic household appliances.

"Be it as it may, Nick was the only one available."

"Please say he didn't burn the place down."

"No, but Wally was walking around with a nasty looking burn on his wrist for a while…"

"You're an evil, evil man. Wally's not seriously hurt, is he?

"I'm learning. Also, I think _he_ had to teach Nick how to use the iron, so he should be okay."

Dick backed off for the rest of the meal until they were in the elevator.

"Hey, Kaldur?" Dick shuffled for a little bit before heaving out a weary sigh. "Keep an eye on Wally, okay?"

"Of course. But you can't keep doing this forever." Dick pretended not to hear the last sentence and strode out of the lift as soon as the doors opened, grabbing a startled Kory by the elbow and immediately striking up a conversation about the upcoming Halloween party. Kaldur exchanged amused glances with Donna, the receptionist, and returned to his office.

Kaldur was just looking over a corporate insolvency case when his phone rang with a reminder that Roy was coming over for dinner. The lawyer raised an eyebrow, glanced at the clock and then decided that it would be best if he could finish up by six or so.

Kaldur felt a vague sense of embarrassment sweep over him as he switched off the lights and walked out of his office. The fact that his briefcase was stuffed with documents for review did little to comfort him; the fact remained that he was still leaving work earlier than usual. The office was still brightly lit, lawyers hurrying to and fro and Kaldur tried not to shuffle like a naughty schoolboy when he ran into Mr. Wayne. The partner nodded briefly at him before disappearing into Mr. Kent's office. Even Donna was still at the reception desk.

Waitrose was packed with hungry office workers looking for something they could quickly throw into the oven or that final ingredient for a quick stir-fry. One can of coconut milk and a bag of discounted mixed vegetables later and Kaldur was moving through the crowd of people headed home. He noticed that there was no light under Wally's door as he went up the tairs, but assumed that the student had plans for the evening already.

At seven-fifteen on the dot, Roy showed up at the door bearing a large box of very expensive pralines. "Token of appreciation from a client," he explained. "He says this is the best chocolate in Belgium."

"Oh, chocolate? You do know how to make me feel special."

"What can I say? You're so important to me." Roy's ridiculous fluttering eyelashes and overly syrupy tone forced a grin onto Kaldur's lips and he brushed Conner's (and Dick's) comments aside. He would simply have to set the record straight this Saturday, or sooner if Dick continued to pester him.

"I feel like we're in college again," Roy commented as he perched himself on the opposite counter and inhaled deeply.

"Roy, please don't sit on the counter. I have to prepare food there."

Roy grumbled quietly but slid off anyway and wandered over to stare at the food bubbling away on the stove. "So no kindergarteners here tonight?"

"I don't see why you're so opposed to them," Kaldur said as he transferred the rice and curry to a plate and set it in front of Roy. "It's not like they're that much younger than we are."

"I don't like the fact that they let Conner punch you without at least attempting to stop him or explain why you don't just go around assaulting people."

"It was an accident," Kaldur sighed. "And Conner apologized." He wondered if he was going to be repeating this to Roy every time the other man brought up the incident.

"That's how a lot of abuse cases start out, you know. First time's never the last time."

"I'm so glad you think I'd make a great battered husband," Kaldur dryly replied. "But I'm a big boy now, I can take care of myself."

Roy glared and muttered darkly, but thankfully kept the rest of his thoughts to himself, choosing to take a big bite of rice instead. "This is good," he mumbled through the mouthful of food in his mouth, treating Kaldur to a perfect view of half-chewed green curry and peppers.

"Busy lately?"

Roy groaned. "You have no idea. I think this is the first time in weeks I've actually left the office before ten."

Kaldur winced in sympathy. "Big deal?"

"Yeah. If it goes well we'll all be celebrating this time two weeks from now. If it goes downhill, you can bet everything you own that Queen Industries' stock will plummet. No, don't be silly, that's _not_ insider trading, that's just opinion and common sense." Kaldur closed his mouth again.

Roy had just finished off the last of the curry when Kaldur decided to ask him about Brick Lane. He was supposed to be the one treating this time (he supposed) and it would not do to get lost around Brick Lane or bring Conner to a place with lousy food. "You know anything about Brick Lane?" He asked his friend.

Roy shrugged. "Sure. It's a nice place to go every now and again if you're into curry and ethnic arts and crafts, but it loses a little appeal after a while. There's only so much Indian-pattern inspired stuff I can take."

"Know any good restaurants?"

The other man looked at him expectantly, one eyebrow raised. "Is there something you want to tell me?" He asked sweetly.

"I was just curious." Kaldur was proud of how steady his voice was.

Roy leaned closer. "Really? So you're really just going out for the sake of exploring this admittedly wonderful city and not staying at home to catch up on work like the serious, responsible lawyer I know you are?"

"I'd like to know the ins and outs of this city preferably sometime before December," Kaldur replied.

The other man shrugged. "I'll take you there this weekend if you want. I've been craving good Indian curry for a while now; that place ten minutes' walk from the office just doesn't cut it and a couple of colleagues got food poisoning last week after eating there."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. So what do you say? You, me, Brick Lane and enough curry to feed India."

"Actually, I was looking for a good place to meet up with another friend."

"One of the kindergarteners?"

"Don't call them that."

"So are you?"

"Am I what?"

Roy thought for a moment. "You're looking for somewhere to take Conner out on a date," he stated so matter-of-factly Kaldur wondered if his friend had known all along and had simply been toying with him for his own personal amusement. Roy gave him such s sharp smile Kaldur tensed up for a fight. It wouldn't be the first time he and Roy had gotten into one, and it probably wouldn't be the last. He only hoped that the other man would have the decency to clear the table up first before throwing a punch.

"This isn't the first date, is it?" Roy's tone was still even, so perhaps there was hope.

"No. The second."

"You're going to Brick Lane on a second date? Sloppy, Kaldur, sloppy. I thought you only went to those places when you were firmly established as a couple. It takes a lot of strength to continue crushing on someone once you've seen them eat with their hands."

"Fine, Casanova, what ideas do _you_ have?"

Roy smirked and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. "Nobu," he confidently replied, handing Kaldur a small black card with the details embossed on it in fancy writing.

Kaldur gave his friend a flat look in return. "I'm not going to dispute that lawyers are very well-paid no matter which country they are in, but I'm also going to have to point out that as a new transfer who hasn't even received his first paycheck, I don't have that much money to blow on one meal."

Roy thought for a moment and then shrugged, leaning forward to take the card back. "You're right. Nobu would be wasted on a Philistine like him anyway."

"Be nice."

"So why didn't you mention the first date? When was it?"

"…Last week." Kaldur could see Roy thinking, calculating, working his way to the only logical solution…then a piercing pair of fierce blue eyes locked onto his with the sort of intensity the other man usually only reserved for recalcitrant clients.

"Saturday right? Must have been, since you were busy all week, the dinner party was on Friday and I know how you hate seeing someone too often after a date. It was Saturday."

"Yes, it was Saturday, good job Roy." Kaldur desperately tried to steer the conversation to less hazardous topics, but his friend would not be deterred.

"Oh, so that's why you were all ruffled up when I called him out properly for punching you in the first place." Roy paused for a moment. "Does this mean you were hoping I'd give him a seal of approval? Because I gotta say, he's not going to be getting one any time soon."

"You sound like an overprotective father. Going to get your shotgun out?"

Roy rolled his eyes. "Nobody punches my best friend but me." Kaldur pretended not to notice the warm feeling he always got whenever Roy actually acted like he might care; calling his friend out on it would only exacerbate the situation and the man would just try to cover it up with something else. Still, over-protectiveness was no excuse for acting like an ass.

"That still doesn't justify storming out of the house. I know you're capable of functioning like a normal human being, so don't feed me some stupid excuse about not playing well with others. What's really going on, Roy?" Part of Kaldur pointed out that this conversation was uncomfortably similar to one preceding an unwanted confession in romance novels, but he pushed it away in favour of the task at hand. Dick's words (and Conner's claim) were clearly scrambling his mind.

Roy glared mutinously in reply and shoved another piece of chocolate in his mouth, chewing as obnoxiously as he could. Kaldur pinched the bridge of his nose; really, the man could be such a _child_ sometimes. "You can't sit there chewing forever, Roy. It's not that big."

Roy looked torn between laughter and irritation, so Kaldur decided to let up for the moment. He could wait. "But to answer your previous question, this is the second date with Conner." Kaldur allowed himself a small smile. "The first one was pretty good. He stole the food bill and used some of the most ridiculous excuses known to man." His friend looked intrigued, so he continued talking. "We went to Camden because he insisted that he wanted to show me around town. He works at one of the garages as a mechanic. And we had churros." Roy's eyes widened at that and Kaldur smirked at him, knowing full well how much Roy missed the sugary fried dough sticks (he mentioned them at least once per e-mail).

"This is all very sweet and I think I'm going to contract diabetes," Roy dryly commented, "but the fact remains that he punched you."

"That might have been one of the excuses he used to pay for everything," Kaldur replied. "You should probably also consider moving on from that fact. I hear holding grudges isn't healthy."

"Whatever." Roy was clearly getting impatient and he left the room, claiming that he'd left something outside with his coat. Kaldur took the opportunity to stack the dirty dishes in the sink and submerge them in hot water mixed with a little soap.

"Honey, guess what I brought?" Kaldur turned around to see Roy holding two bottles of Patron aloft.

"No. Not on a weeknight," Kaldur said shortly, and he hoped Roy would understand that.

"But Kaldur, I had to get a friend to bring these back especially for us. And I know you love tequila." The fiendish grin on the redhead's face could have sent the Devil himself running for cover.

He tried to hold out. "I don't need tequila."

"But you do," Roy smirked, waving one of the bottles in his face. "Come on Kaldur, you know you love me," he cooed in a high-pitched voice that was, Kaldur thought, supposed to be what a tequila bottle would sound like if it was sentient.

"I have an early morning tomorrow, I can't afford to spend it with a hangover."

"Just skip the gym and sleep a little extra. You'll be fine. Besides, _I'm_ going to drink and you know I work the same hours as you."

Kaldur paused for a moment. He knew that he should say no, but part of him wanted to just talk to Roy, talk about something that wasn't related to Conner or law and that had nothing to do with his love life whatsoever. He stood up and headed for the cupboard where he kept all the glasses and cups. "You in or out?" Roy asked. For answer, Kaldur simply slammed the two UCLA shot glasses down on the table in front of his friend.

Kaldur woke up the next morning to one of the worst hangovers he'd ever had, and that was including his 21st birthday. His mouth tasted like he'd been eating raw sewage and he could practically smell the alcohol oozing from his pores. He couldn't even remember getting into bed. Roy was likely in no better shape, having turned into the missing link between animal and vegetable close to two in the morning. He was probably sacked out on the couch. A glance at his clock informed him that he had approximately 45 minutes to get to work. He slid out of bed and headed for the shower, clenching his teeth against the waves of pain washing over him. He could pick out a suit later.

The shower helped, but probably not as much as a cup of coffee would. Kaldur sighed in regret; he would just have to buy the ridiculously overpriced stuff at Pret a Manger instead; and hurried back to the safety of his room to get dressed. There was no sign of Roy at all, not even a peep. So as soon as he'd pulled on the suit jacket, Kaldur hurried into the living room and found Roy sacked out just a few feet away from the couch, clearly having given up on his way there. "Roy!" He hissed and crouched down to gently shake the other, ignoring the stabbing pains in his head from moving so quickly. "Roy! Wake up!"

Roy mumbled something and blinked his way back to the world of the living, unfocused eyes looking around and finally focusing on Kaldur. "Kaldur?" His voice was hoarse and Kaldur was suddenly struck by the memory of his friend getting up on the table to do an appalling rendition of 'We Are the Champions'.

"Roy, I need to go now. So do you."

Roy mumbled something incoherent and rolled over, cursing when his hangover no doubt made itself known. Kaldur looked around desperately for some way to make Roy get up, but finally resorted to leaving a glass of water and two aspirin on the coffee table for his friend to find. He knew Roy would lock up after himself; after a near miss with a burglar halfway through his MBA, the man was fanatical about making sure the door, windows and skylights (if any) were all locked.

The Tube was as hellish as Kaldur anticipated. It was stuffier than usual today, probably because of the rapidly-cooling weather, and he had to close his eyes every time someone accidentally jostled him. It was even a struggle just to keep his balance on the train. He thought longingly of coffee and made a mental note to take two of the aspirin he kept in his office for the occasional unexpected headache.

Kaldur arrived at Canary Wharf tube station at 9am and did his best to stifle a groan. As he made his way into the lobby, he heard the sound of heels clicking briskly behind him and turned to see Kory hurrying over. She too looked as though she'd had a long night, face paler than usual and dark circles under her eyes. "Good morning, Kaldur," she said although her voice was less energetic than usual.

"Morning, Kory. How are you?"

"Good, but a little tired. My sister came over last night and demanded that I show her around town. You?"

"Yeah, a friend of mine came over and we…talked." Kaldur thought it would perhaps be best not to mention that he'd gotten drunk right after showing up late to the Head of Human Resources.

Kory nodded understandingly.

"That must be nice, seeing family." Kaldur was proud of himself for being able to carry on a coherent conversation for this long without slipping up or revealing that every time he opened his mouth, a fresh wave of pain would come and take over from the old, dull one.

"Not really." Kaldur blinked. "It's not that we hate each other," she hastily explained as they stepped into the lift. "We just…don't have a lot in common."

"No judgment here," Kaldur politely replied. "Any big plans today?"

Kory sighed. "The new trainees are coming in this afternoon. I'll have to show them around, introduce them to the partners." She gave Kaldur a dazzling smile. "Be nice to them, please?"

"Of course."

Kaldur made a beeline for the pantry and poured himself a big mug of coffee, thankful that Wayne & Co were generous enough to provide a decent coffeemaker for their minions. He slowly made his way back to the office and flinched when he realised that he would have to stare at his very bright computer screen very soon. He was never going to say yes to Roy ever again. At least, not on a weeknight.

Dick slipped in at quarter to eleven with two manila files and mug of coffee. "You look like hell," he commented as he perched on Kaldur's desk.

"And you would like me to do what about it?" The hangover hadn't quite gone away yet and Kaldur was feeling rather tetchy. There was also a niggling feeling in the back of his mind, rather like he'd forgotten something very important but couldn't actually remember what it was.

Dick didn't even reply; he simply dropped the files and his coffee on Kaldur's desk, walked over and started shoving at him. "Get up," he sighed. "We're going to Mickey's." Kaldur gave him a strange look; Mickey's was one of the less savory drinking establishments more commonly frequented by notorious ambulance chasers and the janitorial staff of every single law firm in the vicinity.

It also turned out to have the greasiest, saltiest, most ridiculously delicious fries ('Chips, Kaldur, we're in England now') around. Dick had to practically shove a handful into Kaldur's mouth before he registered just how good they tasted. "What do they put in these things?" Kaldur asked as he ate another one.

"I think they deep fry the chips in bacon fat," Dick replied. "Hope you're not overly fond of your heart."

"I'll manage," Kaldur dryly commented. He nudged the plate closer to his friend. "You want some?"

Dick happily helped himself to the rest of the _fries _(chips were what Pringles sold, thank you very much), leaving Kaldur to reap the benefits of the sudden grease injection and fight off the remaining vestiges of his hangover with a big mug of coffee. Kaldur snagged a final fry and slowly got to his feet. Dick smiled and passed him a napkin. "I suppose I should tell you we got the arbitrator in and they've set a date."

Bruce Wayne was waiting for them when they got back. Kaldur tensed up when the man's eyes narrowed at the sight of them, but without a trace of fear Dick merrily skipped up to the senior partner and beamed. "We were back before 11," he said. Bruce gave the two of them another once-over and Kaldur fought not to just spill everything right there and then.

"I'll see you in ten minutes," the man finally said before turning sharply on his heel. "Bring the LyrenCo documents."

Kaldur staggered down the corridor, so loaded down with files he thought he may as well borrow one of those little trolley things the interns used to cart old case files around. Much to his relief, Dick was faring no better with his own formidable burden. The two of them slowly made their way over to Mr. Wayne's office, carefully depositing the files on the desk and then sitting down. The partner raised an eyebrow at the sheer mountain of paper now threatening to take over his desk and sighed.

The good news was that Dick and Kaldur had already previously worked out an appropriate strategy to present to LyrenCo before the arbitration. It turned out that Ms. Natasha Romanov was a well-respected arbitrator and more importantly, a very reasonable woman who held no grudges against Wayne and Co, or LyrenCo itself for that matter. "But," Bruce continued, "she doesn't like lies. Which means that we will _not_ resort to cheap tricks or the use of miniskirt analogies to make our case. Dick." Dick looked as though butter would not melt in his mouth. "We will also try not to turn up with visible bruises that make us look like thugs. Now, what is our proposed solution to this…predicament?"

After two hours of heated discussion in which Dick paced the room so many times Kaldur was tempted to check for any weak spots in the carpet and Bruce maintained some semblance of order whenever the arguments got a little too heated. "Gentlemen," Bruce finished with a grin as Kaldur summarized the agreement, "We have reached an agreement. Dick, get that typed up and send me a copy as soon as you can. Kaldur, help Dick out and make sure the agreement's proofed properly; names, dates, amounts of money; all that stuff." He clapped his hands briskly. "Back to work, everyone. Also, take those files with you; you never know when you'll need them again."

They got a little cart to carry everything this time, Dick practically dancing with joy as he dumped the stack of black box-files onto the contraption. "I haven't pushed one of these in a while," he happily commented.

Kaldur raised an eyebrow. "Don't you use a trolley in the supermarket?"

"It's not the same! This brings back so many fond memories of my trainee days!"

There was a thud, the trolley stopped moving and then a squawk of pain. Both men looked up to see Raquel hopping around, desperately trying to decide which one of her calves hurt more so that she could give it immediate attention. Kaldur winced in sympathy; he remembered all-too-clearly what happened when little kids at the airport got overexcited and starting racing with the luggage carts. "Sorry!" Dick yelped as he suddenly sped up, leaving Raquel and Kaldur behind.

After making sure Raquel wasn't mortally injured (bruises, but she could hide those with dark tights) and wasn't about to sue for personal injury, Kaldur finally returned to his office He had two missed calls, four text messages (two of which were from his parents respectively) and five new e-mails. Clearly that 'redistribution of labour' was now trickling down to even the newest lawyers.

Dick finished the first draft somewhere close to three-thirty, sending it to Kaldur with a little smiley face at the bottom. Beatrice, the secretary in charge of helping out all the newly-minted/hired lawyers, stepped into his office somewhere around five-thirty that afternoon with a file from Mr. Kent, of all people. It was a pro bono case, something about an orphanage being accused of skimming government funds. At least it was something he could get behind without too much fuss. The afternoon slipped by without his noticing it and by the time he stopped for a break, it was already close to quarter past seven. Kaldur felt vaguely guilty again, this time for not going to the gym or telling Wally that he'd be 'busy' this morning, and not telling Artemis that he wouldn't be coming in for their morning spar. Then again, he was sure the other two had much better things to do than worry about where he'd gone. He sighed and turned once more to the error-riddled draft that Dick had sent him, promising his already-growling stomach that he would find something to eat soon.

"You up for carbonara?" Kaldur nearly fell off his chair in surprise as he turned to see Dick standing in the doorway, wallet in one hand. "I'm guessing it's going to be a late night."

Kaldur skipped the carbonara this time, opting for seafood pasta instead. Dick stayed to eat, waving a hand airily when asked whether anyone would mind his slacking off. "Please," Dick scoffed, "Like anyone would hold taking an hour's break for food against us."

They talked about the case for a while, bouncing ideas off each other and trying to come up with a strategy that would convince the arbitrator to go easy on them. Then they moved onto films they wanted to watch, and slowly segued into holiday plans. Or more accurately, Dick's guide to surviving company parties at Wayne & Co. The firm hosted a Halloween party every year, where lawyers and clients alike were expected to attend in full costume. Even Dick had to admit that Mr. Allen was probably the only one who seemed happy about the entire affair and was likely the only one to actually take the fancy-dress contest seriously. "At least it's open bar," he dryly commented. The thought of seeing Ms. Lance in fishnets and leather (Dick claimed it was her annual costume) made him feel just a tad uncomfortable. Neither of them brought up Conner or Wally.

The two of them worked for another couple of hours after eating, and it was only when Mr. Wayne came in to say he was leaving for the night that Kaldur realized he'd been sitting there for a lot longer than he intended. He supposed it was only fair, in light of the Roy-induced lack of productivity the previous day. At least the arbitrator wasn't an unknown quantity anymore.

Kaldur returned home to find a note pinned to the front door with one of the Japanese sushi knives his mother had insisted on buying him. "Send Conner to me if he persists in thinking we're a couple." Kaldur sighed and gently tugged the knife out, wincing at the mark in the door. He hoped the landlord wouldn't come after him for too much compensation.

Wally knocked on the door just as Kaldur was done brushing his teeth. The first thing the lawyer noticed about his friend was the pallor of his skin. Wally wasn't tanned to begin with, but his skin was now an unhealthy-looking shade of pale grey, accentuated by the dark heavy bags under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't been eating properly either, if the state of his already-thin frame was anything to go by. "Wally! Are you all right?"

The redhead shrugged. "Yeah, it's just midterms."

"That's difficult," Kaldur sympathized. He was all too familiar with the toll that exams could take on anyone's health. "When do you finish?"

Wally made a face. "Two weeks from now. The exams are spread out but I have a couple of practical exams as well, so those will fill up the time in between. Can't really rush a reaction, you know. And I have to submit a report three days after exams officially finish; it's just to show my academic tutor that I can finish everything within the allotted time and that my experiments are coming along smoothly."

"Well, if you ever need dinner or anything," Kaldur began, because he could see the rings around Wally's eyes and those were enough to worry anyone in their right mind, "feel free to stop by." The other gave him a small smile.

"Don't worry about it," he grinned. "I know you and Robin have been really busy lately—"

"Have you two been talking?" The part of Kaldur that had been raised right wanted to scream that Wally was busy and no, it was not all right to ask questions about a colleague's private life even if said colleague's best friend appeared more than happy to share the details. "You and Dick, I mean."

The redhead shook his head. "Nah, I think we need some time to think, and now's not really a good time to start talking about…things."

"True," Kaldur conceded, "but I know Dick's worried about you. He keeps trying to grill me for information in his own way."

"Working the subtle comments huh?"

They both shared a grin at this. Wally heaved a sigh. "I'll get around to it after exams are over. Right now, I'm pretty sure the only way to drive me even crazier would be to tell me I failed something and my scholarship got revoked." Kaldur winced.

"Good luck. Get some sleep!" Wally saluted in reply and went back downstairs, leaving Kaldur wonder whether he should tell Dick not to give up too soon.

The next morning at Flash, Artemis made it clear that she was significantly more impressed with Kadur's sudden decision to drink himself into a coma on a work night. "And here I was, thinking you were all responsible."

"Sorry. I hope I didn't shatter your illusions of me too brutally."

"You kidding? I want in the next time it happens."

"I don't think Roy would approve."

Artemis landed a particularly hard punch to his gut and danced deftly away. "Huh. He see a doctor about his raging case of jackass yet?"

"That's not fair," Kaldur said shortly. He privately agreed with Artemis, but it didn't mean that she got a free pass insulting his best friend like that. "He was trying to defend me in his own, twisted little way."

"No kidding," she commented tartly. "Who gave him that job?"

"I think it's a self-appointment thing," he dryly replied.

"Fair enough." They sparred for a while longer until Artemis decided to start talking again. "You coming to the sessions or what? I'm holding down a slot for you but I can only do that for so long."

"So let the other person have the slot."

"Do you even want to come?"

"Honestly? I'll let you know when I stop having to stay at the office until ten every evening."

"Lots of work?"

"Two managing partners are leaving for a business trip next week, so everyone has to pitch in so that nothing accidentally gets left unfinished."

"That explains why Robin's been so distracted lately. He fell off the parallel bars a couple of days ago; those are his specialty and he was just going through his usual routine. One minute he was happily swinging away, the next he was on the floor." Kaldur was shocked.

"Is he all right? He didn't say anything about it at work."

"Well, he was fine," Artemis said. "Just a few bruises but we got the onsite doctor to check him up and the guy said he was fine so it should be okay. He isn't limping around or anything, is he?" She asked worriedly.

"No," Kaldur shook his head. "Does Wally know?"

Artemis frowned lightly. "Not that I'm aware of." Then a gleam crept into her eye and Kaldur just knew that he was about to become embroiled in some harebrained scheme to likely repair Dick and Wally's relationship. "But if someone told him…he'd be very worried. Worried enough to stop moping around and actually make some time to go see his best friend, even if he has to trek over to Mayfair to do it."

"Wally has exams and a scholarship to worry about," Kaldur pointed out reasonably. "He's not wrong in wanting to wait a little longer."

"Maybe," Artemis finally conceded. "But seriously, this is getting out of hand. Wally's been spending all his time doing nothing but studying and working out, and Robin's been kind of distracted lately. Plus, he's been ringing up Zee almost every night and she loves him like a brother, but sometimes you just don't want to see your brother all that often, you know?"

Kaldur raised an eyebrow. "I haven't noticed anything different about Dick," he pointed out. "He sometimes tries to ask about Wally, and I've been telling him to just go and see the man but he's not getting it. Or he's just pretending not to get it."

Artemis huffed and nodded at the corner of the ring, indicating for him to go get a drink of water. "That's not wholly unlike Rob, "she conceded. Then a corner of her mouth twitched up and Kaldur thought that she looked alarmingly…predatory. "So what's this I hear about Conner wooing you? I wasn't there," she hastily added, "but Zee was and she told me all about it. So you're in a ménage a trois with Roy and Conner now? That's one scene I wouldn't mind sitting in on."

"Aside from the incredibly disturbing implications of your comment, I feel obliged to state for once and for all that I am not in any sort of romantic or, heaven forbid, sexual relationship with Roy Harper."

"That's what Bill Clinton said too."

"I can sign an official statement and get Roy to sign it as well as two uninvolved witnesses. Would that satisfy everyone?"

"You should really just let Conner keep thinking you're with Roy. Make him sweat a little for it."

"Excuse me?"

"And just so you know, he knows Brick Lane like the back of his hand. He used to live in India and sometimes misses Indian food in general." To seal the deal, Artemis finished off with three quick jabs; one to his jaw, one to his solar plexus and then one right to the gut. "See you tomorrow!" Before Kaldur could say anything in response, she'd rushed off in a blur of green and yellow.

It was the first time Wally hadn't finished before him, Kaldur realized as he walked back up to the gym. It was crowded now, some people even standing around machines waiting for others to finish. He spotted Wally's bright yellow jacket from a distance and headed over. His friend was talking to someone else, a short, dark-haired figure wearing a suit…oh. He knew exactly who it was.

Kelly Clarkson hollered something about staying or going and Kaldur could not have agreed more. Part of him wanted to stay and watch the scene unfold with a bucket of popcorn and soda, and the other part of him knew that this should be private (but was it really private if it took place on public premises?) and that if he dallied any longer he'd be late for work. To be fair, so would Dick, seeing as he now had a death grip on Wally's sleeve and the conversation didn't look like it was going to end any time soon. Then Wally suddenly frowned and yanked his hand away, heading for the exit. Kaldur discreetly slipped behind two bodybuilder types and saw Dick still standing in the middle of the gym, hand still raised as though his friend was still standing there.

"Don't lie; I know you saw everything." Wally didn't sound angry, just resigned. "Probably not the best place to have a heart-to-heart, but he did come in before work to see me."

"I see." The good thing about Wally was that he didn't need any encouragement; he just said whatever was on his mind and only needed a few strategically-placed acknowledgments.

"Robin came up with a 'brilliant' idea," Wally continued, sarcasm infusing his words. "He suggested I move in with him instead. Apparently because the rent on his apartment is paid up for the next six months, I won't have to spend money on that. And apparently his food budget is large enough to handle my appetite so I won't have to pay for food."

Kaldur had no doubt that Dick's salary was more than enough to support Wally, even if the student ate like it was his last day on earth. He also didn't think his colleague would be so naive as to think that a valid solution to the argument. "Are you sure that's what he meant?" Not the best choice of words, but Wally probably wouldn't notice anyway.

"What do you mean, 'are you sure'? Of course I'm sure that's what he meant! He even said some nonsense about getting a moving company to get my stuff into his place over the weekend!"

"That sounds a little hasty."

"It is! I like my apartment! It's closer to UCL than freaking Mayfair and it doesn't look like a show home come to life! I'm not about to consent to living in a place where I can't even drink coffee in the living room for fear of spillage! I don't _want_ a maid who does my laundry and a chef who offers to make me bacon cheeseburgers and a gigantic apartment that my best friend pays for!"

Kaldur had always assumed Dick was fairly well-to-do, what with his expensive suits and the first-name terms he and the staff of Harrods seemed to be on, but it had never crossed his mind that the other man would actually have all of those things and then more. "What?"

Wally huffed in exasperation. "Yeah, he's secretive about how much money he actually has. I think he's just unused to the idea of dealing without certain things, and sometimes he gets a little carried away. He doesn't mean any harm, but when he goes all, "Oh, Wally, here, let me pay for this exorbitantly expensive widget because I know you've been wanting it for ages and don't worry, it's all on me because I know you're in financial difficulties' or 'Oh, Wally, have some of this foie gras-thing-that-Alfred-made because I know you've been spending money on lunch every day and don't have enough for the end of the month before your monthly stipend comes through', it makes me feel like…well, like a charity case. I'm _normal_; not rich, not poor, just aware that there isn't always spare money available in an expensive city when I'm studying abroad."

Kaldur thought he might have picked up on something else. Something that, he had a feeling, would likely hurt Dick far more than Wally refusing to move in or accept an expensive present. "Did you say that? The, uh, normal thing?"

"No, of course not!" Wally looked horrified at the very thought. "I mean, that's not to say having a lot of money automatically makes you a freak or something, it's just that he didn't grow up delivering newspapers on a bike or waiting tables over the summer for extra pocket money, you know?"

Kaldur decided the best course of action was to just nod. "And I don't understand why Dick's so worried about me now. I mean, when we were kids and I brought my own lunch to school because the school stuff was way too expensive and the portions were nowhere near big enough for me, he didn't say anything."

"Maybe he just didn't realize all the implications at the time."

"Maybe. But he sure didn't seem to mind when I worked all the way through my undergrad studies."

"You sure about that?"

"Maybe it's the foreign country thing," Wally mused. "Like, because the currency's different and the American dollar isn't doing so well, so he thinks I'm suffering even more."

"Or maybe he's just worried about you," Kaldur pointed out. "You can try explaining it to Dick again, but eventually you'll just have to leave him to come to terms with the fact that you're happy even if the monthly stipend isn't quite enough and you need that extra job to make ends meet."

Wally sighed. "Yeah. I just…well, I guess I just miss him. It's weird going home at night and knowing he won't be there." They arrived at Number 32 right on time and entered quietly so as not to disturb the other residents. "Thanks for listening," Wally said awkwardly when they got to the third floor. "I'll, uh, buy dinner next time."

"Don't worry," Kaldur assured him. "Advice is free. Action, on the other hand, is not." Wally cracked a smile at that.

Dick was not quite himself that day, seemingly moving from one place to another without a goal in mind. He didn't so much as crack a smile when Kaldur stopped by to ask him out for lunch, simply grabbing a folder of his desk and standing up. It turned out to be one of the most awkward meals the lawyer had ever had with a colleague, as throughout the meal Dick did not so much as look at him, scribbling away at his documents with a green felt tip like it was the last thing on earth he'd ever do.

"Dick."

Dick paused briefly to shove a piece of lettuce in his mouth before scribbling something else on the piece of paper in front of him. Kaldur sighed.

"Dick."

"Dick!" Kaldur frowned; the female voice sounded oddly familiar and he looked up to see Selina Kyle glide over. She glanced over the table and raised a quizzical eyebrow at Kaldur, who shrugged because he wasn't about to tell one of the firm's clients and possibly a personal friend of Bruce Wayne's that one of the associates was having a very bad day.

Selina reached over and deftly plucked the felt tip from Dick's hand, setting it firmly down out of his reach and moving closer so that he could not ignore her. "Robin, what are you doing ignoring a handsome man like the one in front of you? Isn't lunch a time for rest?"

Dick heaved a quiet sigh and looked away, staring dully at the table. "I need to finish this up. I've got a lot of stuff on my plate at the moment and quite honestly I don't think I should have come out today."

Selina frowned and then turned to Kaldur. "Would you mind leaving us alone for five minutes?" She asked. "I promise I'll come get you after we're done here."

"I don't need—" Dick began, but stopped talking when Selina turned a sharp glance his way.

Kaldur still had no idea what Selina said, or what Dick did, but when he came back there were two bottles of wine and a gigantic plate of what looked like mac-and-cheese gone gourmet on the table. The entire meal was billed to Bruce Wayne's personal account.

Bruce Wayne was waiting for Dick in the lobby when they returned. "Dick, my office," he told the other briskly. Kaldur hastily nodded at the other two and walked away, knowing that Dick would appreciate the privacy.

* * *

Reviews are appreciated and thank you for sticking with the story! Also, in the writing of this chapter know that I finally came to the horrified (and somewhat bemused) conclusion that yes, Roy and Kaldur do actually have better chemistry. Now what am I going to do?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

Disclaimer: I don't own YJ.

A/N: Edited!Chapter. You think I'd get better at this whole 'edit before you post' thing.

* * *

"Kaldur Ahm," Kaldur briskly said down the phone.

"Hi Mr. Ahm, this is Dave from ConnectAll, we spoke on the phone the other day about installing cable and internet in your flat?"

"Right!" Kaldur hastily scrambled around for a moment out of habit before remembering that there was nothing in writing to look for. At least, not here in the office. "Yes, you're coming next Thursday, correct?"

"That's right, we'll be around somewhere in between 2 and 5, will that be a good time for you?"

"Yes, absolutely. My friend's going to be holding down the fort, so if there's any payment would be possible to make it at a later date?"

"Don't worry," Dave replied cheerfully, "everything's already been paid up and you are listed as an AutoPay customer, so the amounts will be deducted directly from your bank account each month. We'll call you before we actually get to the place, so is there another number you'd like us to dial? Your friend's going to at the flat, right?"

"Yes, that's correct," Kaldur responded. "My friend is called Wally West, and his mobile number is…" Then he resisted the urge to sigh when he realized that Wally's number was stored on his mobile phone…which was currently in use. "Uh, could I maybe get back to you later on that?" He asked. "I seem to have misplaced the number."

Dave chuckled. "Sure, Mr. Ahm. You can call me at 07852729333 or you can call the regular ConnectAll hotline and ask for me. I'll be around until five-thirty in the afternoon every day, so just let me know when you've got all the details."

"Thank you," Kaldur replied quickly. "I'll let you know as soon as possible. Thank you for calling."

"No worries, part of the job," the other man responded. "Thanks again for using ConnectAll."

Kaldur immediately jotted down Wally's number on a Post-It and immediately called Dave back; he did not want to risk forgetting the next day and becoming the go-between for Wally and a confused deliveryman. After confirming all his details once more, Kaldur finally managed to settle in to work. Sometime around four-thirty, Kory stopped by with a herd of new trainees; apparently they had been busy with paperwork the previous day and as such were only going around the office today. "Say hi to Kaldur, our newest lawyer! He worked in LA and his specialty is company law," the redhead chirped brightly. A chorus of mumbles followed and Kaldur nodded in response.

"Nice to meet all of you," he said. Clearly emboldened by this show of friendliness, one man stepped forward and gave him a dazzling smile. Kaldur wondered whether he should ask who the man's dentist was; he obviously knew his stuff. "I'm Max," he said with a slight German accent. "I studied in Munich for my undergraduate and then came here to do my GDL and LPC. It's great to meet you, Kaldur."

Kaldur pretended to understand the acronyms and nodded. "It's good to meet you, Max. I'm sure you're going to enjoy it here; it's a great firm." The rest of the trainees introduced themselves one by one and he simply nodded in response, making encouraging noises. Kory ushered them out again, but before she left she turned around to give him a wink.

Barry Allen stopped by later on, gazing fondly out into the corridor where, Kaldur imagined, the trainees were probably still making their way through the office. "Makes me feel old," the partner began wistfully. "All those young, hopeful faces shining with enthusiasm. And here I am, an old fuddy-duddy desperately clinging onto the last vestiges of youth. But at least I'll have the excellent coffee downstairs. Would you care to join me? Bruce and Clark are both busy in the extreme, Diana's probably bludgeoning someone into settlement and Dinah's out at some media conference doing damage control. As usual. So, will you join an old man for a drink?"

Kaldur could not fight back a smile. "Faced with a request like that, how could I possibly refuse?"

Mr. Allen was happy as ever, rambling about every topic that caught his fancy, from the extra work he'd gotten off Bruce and Clark ('Iris will want to know all about Lois Lane!') to the latest news of his twins' performance at university ('Dawn's been elected as Student Council Vice-President; I have no idea where her aptitude for politics comes from.'). Kaldur let the other man talk, knowing that Barry Allen would eventually get around to whatever it was he'd asked Kaldur downstairs for. The other man appeared to prefer assigning cases over coffee and pastry rather than in his office, which suited everybody just fine.

"So I just got a call from Queen Industries this afternoon," Mr. Allen began. "As you might have gathered from the Financial Times, Queen Industries is interested in doing a multi-million dollar deal with Stark Industries; developing various nifty gadgets which I'm sure you're more familiar with than I am. As you well know, both companies were originally incorporated in the US, and as such follow the American system as closely as the British law will allow. The point being, I need someone who is familiar with company law in both the UK and the US to help me out on this matter. You won't be alone, of course," he added quickly. "We'll be working with the in-house lawyers from both firms, but we'll be the ones doing the lion's share of the work for QI; the in-house guys are just there to check that what we're doing is in line with company goals and whatnot. So, you in?"

Kaldur didn't even need to think twice about it. "Absolutely."

"Excellent. I'll get Lacey to run it over to you when we get back. I trust you'll have something for me say, tomorrow after lunch? I'd like to know how your think we should proceed. The client meeting will be on Friday at 5pm; but we can discuss that later." Kaldur nodded and Mr. Allen stood up, clapping one friendly hand on the other lawyer's shoulder. "I know you've been busy with the impending LyrenCo arbitration, so if there's anything you're worried about, let me know. Better sooner than later, right?" Kaldur nodded again and they made their way back up into the office again.

Dick still hadn't returned to his office, so Kaldur could only assume he was either still with Bruce or he'd disappeared off somewhere again like that first disastrous day. Knowing that the other would reappear when he chose to, Kaldur sighed and scanned through the first draft of their proposition. It would have to be submitted to LyrenCo for proofing and checking before Thursday morning, He shot a look at the large stack of files colonizing one shelf of the office and heaved a small sigh. At least he had the weekend to look forward to.

Five o'clock came and went and there was still no sign of Dick. Kaldur had even gone so far as to look in on his friend's office on the way back from the pantry, but the dark-haired man was nowhere to be found. Then Lacey dropped by with the Queen Industries file Mr. Allen had been talking about earlier on and he found his hands completely full for the rest of the afternoon.

Kaldur was on the way home when his phone went off again. Puzzled, he pulled it out and was surprised to see an unknown number blinking at him. "Hello?"

"Guess who?"

Kaldur had to think for a moment. It was a female voice, so that narrowed the pool down to two people. Only one of them had any reason to be calling him at all, so…"Artemis?"

"So they are paying you for your brains! How are you, Kaldur?"

"I'm fine, thank you," he politely replied. He wondered what on earth she could possibly be calling him about.

"Good to hear. So have you heard from Robin?" Well, that was blunt.

"He was…distraught."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious."

"You're the one calling me for gossip. I'd lay off the insults if I were you."

"But you're the one talking to me anyway. Spill already! Any new developments on the Robin/Wally front?"

Kaldur wasn't sure about potentially embarrassing one of his colleagues, so he decided not to mention that Bruce had pulled the other man into his office for what looked like a very long talk. "He's trying to drown himself in work. Which is not that difficult."

Artemis huffed in disappointment down the phone. "This sucks," she sighed. "The two of them are just going to dance around the issue for the rest of the year if we let them."

"What makes you think it's not going to eventually resolve itself?"

"Because the last time this happened, the only reason Rob talked to Wally properly about it was that Conner locked them both in the laundry room in the basement and let a rat loose!"

"…I don't think that's necessary just yet."

"Well, put your big lawyer brain to use and think of something then! Zee can't do anything because every time she tries to bring it up Robin just goes all creepy quiet and asks her if she's on his side, Megan's completely on Wally's side because she's totally into being financially independent, Conner's too blunt to do anything other than demand they talk to each other over and over again and I'm out because I'm friends with Zee and I'd really rather not get involved in this any further."

"So I have to do the dirty work?"

"It'll be fine. You're smart, right? So you'll come up with a plan in no time, you can have Conner because he'll want to impress you even more, and soon everything will be back to normal."

"I like how you have absolutely no idea about how to even go about tackling the issue."

"It's okay. I have faith in you."

"That makes one of us."

Artemis hung up without replying. Kaldur sighed and placed his face in his hands; she was going to owe him big time for this. And so would Dick and Wally.

Dick finally made an appearance around five. If possible, he looked even worse than before; the bags under his eyes were more pronounced than they had been this morning and he was more subdued than Kaldur had ever seen. "I'm going home," he said quietly. "I think I have a bug."

"Sure. You need me to help out with anything?"

"If you could look over the LyrenCo list of requests one more time, that'd be great. The rest can wait."

Kaldur wanted nothing more than to ask if Dick was really all right, but he knew making the other talk now would be like trying to get a stone to talk. "Sure. Go get some rest and have chicken soup." Dick's shoulders slumped again and he nodded, looking almost like a miserable child. "Are you going to be okay getting back home yourself?"

"Yeah, I'll just take a cab," Dick said flatly. "Just get the LyrenCo thing sorted and make sure Bruce doesn't go any crazier than he already is, okay? He's pretty stressed out." Something stirred in the back of Kaldur's mind at that last sentence, but he didn't have time to think any further. He still had Dick to deal with, and he had plenty of time to think in the privacy of his own flat.

"Of course."

Dick left without another word.

Later on that afternoon, Kory stopped by with a plate of cake. "Have you seen Dick anywhere?" She asked Kaldur. "It's Alicia's birthday and she brought chestnut cake, and I know he really likes it so I thought, um…" She hefted the plate and trailed off, face slowly turning red. Kaldur gave her his best understanding smile.

"I'm afraid he went home early; he's not feeling well."

"Oh!" Kory blushed again and looked down at the carpet. "I thought maybe he stepped out for a moment and was hoping maybe you could give him this?" She held out the plate like it was a sacred offering of some sort.

"Don't worry about it," he told her kindly. "Perhaps you could leave a piece for him in the fridge? I'm sure he'd appreciate that."

Kory's face lit up. "That's a great idea! Thanks, Kaldur!" She dashed off with the plate in hand and Kaldur was left to the quiet of his office for the rest of the afternoon. Thankfully, the Queen/Stark deal was challenging and interesting enough to suck him in and by the time he looked up, the sky was dark and most of the secretaries had gone home.

Kaldur was making his way down to the tube station when someone jumped out at him. He gave a shout of surprise and turned swiftly to knock the other off balance. The figure nimbly dodged his arm and quickly stepped under a streetlight. It was Dick, still dressed in his business suit. He held up both hands in a show of peace. "It's okay, it's just me," he hastily said. "Nice moves, by the way. Artemis teach you those?"

"High school," Kaldur replied. "You almost gave me a heart attack! What are you still doing here? I thought you were still working!"

"Not so much," the other told him smugly. "Bruce had a big meeting with Nocturne Corp and took me along for the pleasure of my company."

"Seriously?"

"Yup! And I didn't even have to bring out the big guns this time." Dick appeared perfectly normal now, although the shadows under his eyes were still a little deeper than usual and his tie was askew.

"Did the meeting go well?"

"Is the Pope Catholic? It was totally whelming! They're working on a Japanese cross-border tax lease that will hopefully get the Luxembourgers and the Germans, and maybe the Taiwanese too if we're lucky. If things go well in Munich next week, we're going to be in on one of the biggest deals of the year!" Dick was so excited he was practically bobbing up and down. Seeing how his friend was still riding the high, Kaldur decided to take advantage of Dick's mood.

"So you're feeling better now?"

The other gave him a wide grin. "You know me; three hours of vicious boardroom fighting and I'm good as new."

"You certainly sound better."

Dick gave him a sheepish half-smile. "Yeah, I just had to deal with some stuff before work and it threw me a little, that's all."

"As long as you're…whelmed, it should be fine."

Dick cackled in response. "Hey, you headed for the Tube?"

"Yeah. Coming?"

Dick simply turned in the direction of the gleaming Underground sign and started walking.

Kaldur was disappointed to find that Dick was adamant about remaining on the Piccadilly Line until Mayfair, but he couldn't fault the other man either. He probably knew that Wally was going through midterms and wasn't likely to come out of his flat until sometime next week. Dick, on the other hand, seemed more than happy to ramble on about his weekend plans. He was apparently fully booked for the next few weekends as Tim was coming back for Reading Week, Zatanna had asked him to help out with some sort of tech promotion event (which Conner would also be attending, he slyly added,) and then Damien was coming home the week after next for his Reading Week. "So I'm going to be completely unable to do anything for a while," he concluded.

"Sounds interesting," Kaldur remarked. He made it a point not to mention Wally, seeing as the other was probably only talking about his weekend plans to get some information on the other. From the way Dick kept shifting from one foot to the other, it was clear that he was expecting some kind of conversation in return. Kaldur let him stew for a while.

"So what are you doing over the weekend?" Dick asked all too casually. Kaldur shrugged in response.

"I think you know my weekend plans better than I do."

Dick looked thoughtful for a moment. "So you're just going to mope around on Sunday?"

Kaldur shrugged. "I have phone calls to make, I brought work home and chances are Roy will want a drink at the pub."

"So you have no plans for Sunday. Seems like a shame." Dick pretended to think for a moment and Kaldur braced himself. "You want to come with me and Zee and check out a couple of cinemas? She's working with a couple of indie film directors and needs to find a good place for them to show their stuff."

"That…sounds really interesting." Kaldur had never been one for indie films, but he'd liked Donnie Darko enough to buy the DVD when it came out. Or perhaps it was because he'd watched it under the influence of some very oddly-flavoured brownies with Roy and a few other guys from law school. "Are you sure it's okay though? I wouldn't want to impose…"

Dick rolled his eyes. "Nonsense. The more the merrier, right? And Zee's pretty relaxed about this sort of thing; as long as you don't do anything ridiculously stupid it should be fine. Besides, her bosses won't mind, if that's what you're wondering. They're pretty laid-back so as long as she gets the job done, they don't mind when or with whom she gets it done."

"I'd like to come on Sunday." Dick gave him a blindingly-white smile.

"Excellent," he cackled in the manner of a Bond villain. "I'll text you the details; I think Zee's booked the first place for 1pm but I'm not sure." They spent the rest of the way discussing films and what made a good premiere showing until they reached Green Park, where Kaldur hastily bid farewell to his colleague. "See you tomorrow!" Dick beamed as the tube doors closed again.

Kaldur finished eating and stared at his phone. There were two text messages from his mother and one from Garth. There was also a missed call from Conner sometime around 11am, right when Mr. Allen had stopped by to ask about the Queen/Stark deal and coffee again. Without even hesitating (well, okay, he thought for five minutes instead of the usual half an hour), he immediately hit the green 'Call' button.

It only took three rings for Conner to pick up. "Hello? Kaldur?"

"Conner, hi. Uh, you called?" Kaldur could have almost smacked himself in the face for that. Could he just not act that tiny bit smoother? He had no problem doing it with clients, so why couldn't he act like a normal, functional human being around Conner?

"Yeah, yeah." Conner sounded slightly rushed. "I wanted to confirm Brick Lane on Saturday. Noon at Aldgate tube station? Or we can go to Liverpool Street tube station; one is closer and the other is a more pleasant walk."

"Liverpool Street? Is that near Spitalfields?"

"Yeah, it's the closest station. Have you been there before? To Spitalfields, I mean." Conner was talking more quickly than usual.

"Yeah, it was one of the first places Roy—" _Oh crap,_ Kaldur thought as soon as the name slipped out. "—Roy and I went to when I first came to London." _Way to go, Kaldur, kill the moment by mentioning your alleged boyfriend's name._

"…Right," Conner said. "So we'll go by Aldgate then. It'll be a change of scenery. Seeing as you've already been to Liverpool Street station already."

"That sounds good," Kaldur said as enthusiastically as he could manage, what with all the misunderstandings going around. "Which line is that on? I'm afraid I still don't have Internet access yet…"

"What-," Conner started before he caught himself. "Oh, right. They're coming on Thursday."

"Yes. So I'm a little bit lost until I get to work…"

"Don't worry," Conner interrupted quickly. "It's on the Circle and Metropolitan lines; they're the purple and yellow lines respectively. There's a website – Transport for London – that lets you know when all the trains are running on time and which lines are closed. It's usually pretty up to date, so it's useful if you need to work out how to get someplace and want to know if the Tube will be running then." He stopped and Kaldur could not repress a smile.

"I will," he said. "Thank you for the tip though, I've been wondering if there's some sort of website involving public transport, seeing as I don't have a car anymore."

"Course," Conner sounded slightly embarrassed. "It's really good. I think Zee knows a few good ones too."

"I'll ask her," Kaldur said. "How have you been? How's work?"

"It's good," Conner replied. "It's really good. Jacob – my boss – took a week off and put me in charge of the shop, so I'm running things until he gets back."

"Big man of the house then," Kaldur teased lightly. "Sure you're going to make it out?"

"Yeah, of course! The guys can hold the shop down, and we don't usually get anything that can't wait a little – uh, not that we make people wait for too long or anything – I'll stop talking now." Conner was even more embarrassed now. Kaldur decided to stop teasing the other, even if he did get a small thrill out of how earnest the other man was.

"I was just joking. It's great that your boss trusts you so much."

"Yeah, I enjoy working here even if the hours are strange and the guys are a little rowdy." There was a loud chorus of whistles in the background and Kaldur thought he could make out a catcall.

"Are you calling from work?"

"What? No, I'm at the pub with some colleagues. Two of them came out for a smoke and are shamelessly eavesdropping." Someone hollered in the background and Conner broke away with a quick, "Excuse me." There was a murmur of voices, followed by a swell of laughter as the mechanic returned.

"Sorry. I told them to mind their own business and go harass someone else."

Kaldur chuckled. "So you'll make it on Saturday then?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Good. Noon at Aldgate tube station. I'm looking forward to it. Now go back inside and don't keep your friends waiting."

"Okay. But you know I like talking to you, right?" Even if there was no sign of it in his voice, Kaldur was sure that Conner was smiling.

"I'll keep that in mind for Saturday. Goodnight."

"Goodnight; see you on Saturday." Kaldur hung up and manfully resisted the urge to dance around like a fool. He wasn't in _high school_ anymore, for crying out loud.

The next morning brought a grand total of fifteen text messages and nine voicemails, all made by one Roy Harper. Kaldur did not even want to know, but he was also aware of his friend's…penchant for turning up in the strangest places when he was drunk. It was something to do with his Navajo heritage. Or whatever. Still, it wouldn't hurt to give the other man a call. Then he heard voicemail number three.

"'S'okay, Kaldur." Roy was already slurring a little, but he was still able to form coherent sentences, which had to count for…something. "'S'good. Y'can have my blessing…heh, blessing. Blee-ssing. Blessing. Ble-SSING. Well. Anyway. Go have your big fat gay wedding and I prom'se t' be best man." This was followed by shouts in the background and the sound of breaking glass. Then the next message started. "'N' tell y'r idiot frien' he ain't man 'nuff for you, I saw that photo of y'r quart'rback boyfrien'…" Feeling vaguely worried for his friend, he hastily scrolled through his contacts and hit the call button.

"What?" Roy's voice was rough and Kaldur just knew he'd woken his friend up from a drunken stupor. Again. He felt vague concern rear its head, because nobody got that drunk so frequently unless he had a self-control problem or an alcohol problem. Then he shoved it away roughly; Roy was a grown man now, no matter how much he might like to act like he wasn't, and nothing Kaldur could do would stop his friend from drinking.

"Roy? Are you okay? I got your, uh, voicemails. All four of them. And the text messages."

"What? I didn't call you." There was a faint rustle in the background and Roy moaned quietly.

"If you insist. You're at home, right?"

"Uh, actually…well, I'm in a house. Looks Asian…what the-?!" There was a shriek in the background and Roy cursed. "Listen, Kaldur, I gotta go but I'll call you back later, okay?" Someone shouted at him – it sounded like a girl – and he swore back at her. There was a loud thump and then the line cut off. Kaldur stared blankly at the phone in his hand for a moment and allowed himself a grin. The merriment lasted him throughout his morning workout at Flash, although he did note that Artemis was conspicuously absent today and he had to make do with racing Wally on the fanciest treadmill he'd ever seen in his life.

He was hurrying down to the office when someone flitted past him and lightly tapped his shoulder. "Hiya, stranger!" Dick greeted him cheerily. "Going my way?"

Kaldur was relieved to find that Dick seemed to have let the whole Conner matter drop, although knowing his friend he would probably bring it back up later for maximum damage. "Anything interesting happen yesterday in the office?"

"Kory missed you. She even stopped by with a piece of chestnut cake."

Dick blinked. "She did? I'll have to take her out for lunch sometime. She is way too good to me for her own good."

"And the new trainees came in yesterday. They all seem fairly well-behaved." Dick snickered.

"That's what they all say."

Kaldur and Dick managed to slip into the next lift going up and wound up squashed next to Mr. Kent, of all people.

"Good morning Dick, Kaldur," Mr. Kent greeted them as they stepped into the elevator.

"Morning," Dick replied for the two of them.

"How are you gentlemen? Looking forward to the weekend?"

"You have no idea," Kaldur commented and winced at how earnest it sounded. Judging from Dick's raised eyebrow and his boss' amused smile, they were both aware of the underlying tone. To his relief, Mr. Kent didn't seem to mind at all.

"Yes, me too; I can't believe how much there is to do just as I'm leaving for a business trip. You think I'd be used to it by now, but it never fails to surprise me every time."

"Any plans for the weekend, Clark?" Dick piped up. They stepped into the gleaming white foyer of Wayne & Co just as Mr. Kent opened his mouth to reply.

"A few," Mr. Kent smiled. "I'm meeting a…relative. Say, you boys wouldn't mind giving me a little advice, would you?" He gave them the same honest farm boy smile he used on particularly skittish clients.

"Far be it from us to refuse you," Dick joked. Mr. Kent looked relieved, although for what reason he couldn't say.

"Thank goodness. The relative I'm meeting…well, he's quite a bit younger than me, closer to your age I daresay, and I'm not very close to him. I only found out he moved here because his, ah, uncle called me up and suggested we meet. I'd like to get him something small, as a gesture of goodwill, if you may, and since he's your age I was hoping you might be able to point me in the direction of something appropriate. I'm afraid I'm not very up-to-date on the latest trends." He smiled sheepishly at that last point.

"Did he move here for work?" Kaldur asked, as for some reason Dick had suddenly spotted something very interesting hiding behind the potted fichus and was temporarily distracted.

Mr. Kent thought for a minute and then nodded. "Yes. I believe he is a mechanic."

Kaldur froze for a second, wondering whether Conner and Clark were actually related. Surely Mr. Kent would have mentioned a son before now, though. He seemed like the type of person to appreciate family. "Perhaps you could get him one of the firm USB sticks," he joked although in reality that might not be such a bad idea; he was pretty sure Wayne & Co was the only law firm to make three different USB sticks, each one supposedly designed by one of the three managing partners. He had a bat-shaped one from a recruiting talk given at UCLA, snagged three years before he actually decided to apply.

Mr. Kent looked thoughtful. "Would he like that, you think?" He asked, so painfully earnest that Kaldur found himself thinking more seriously.

"Maybe you could get him a lighter? Even if he's not a smoker, I'm sure he could find plenty of other uses for it as a mechanic."

Mr. Kent frowned. "I don't want to encourage him to smoke," he said shortly. "Even if he doesn't, I don't want to facilitate that habit."

"Get him a Swiss Army knife," Dick suggested all-too-casually; Kaldur had come to recognize the carefully-slouched shoulder, the tension coiled in the other man's wiry frame as he desperately tried to look nonchalant about everything. He wondered why his friend was suddenly so tense. "It's reasonably-priced, useful and appropriate for his line of work."

The partner's face brightened up almost immediately. "That's an excellent idea. Er – you wouldn't happen to know where exactly to buy one around here, would you?"

Dick smiled. "Not around here, I'm afraid," he said. "But there are plenty of department stores around Oxford Street that sell them." Kaldur repressed a shudder at that dreaded name, although he knew that if Garth and Tula brought their family over for Christmas he might well have to spend a lot of time there.

Mr. Kent heaved a sigh. "I guess I know where I'll be spending Saturday morning then," he commented. "But a Swiss Army knife is a wonderful idea. I've always been a great believer in 'Always be prepared' myself. Thank you for your help," he told them gravely before striding over to Dinah Lance, who was talking to one of the receptionists.

"What was that all about?" Kaldur asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

Dick looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You were really tense when he started talking about dinner with his…relative."

"It's nothing," the other man said dismissively. "It's not really my place to say."

"Does it have something to do with Conner?" Dick froze up for a split-second, but it was enough. "Conner's related to Clark, isn't he."

"Shh!" Dick hissed fiercely as he glanced around. Thankfully, they were quite early as usual and most of the secretaries hadn't yet arrived. "Not here."

Never had a morning crawled by so slowly. Not even when he was a first-year associate and relegated to a tiny cubicle overflowing with due diligence papers. It seemed as though every single case he was working on had come to a halt; the LyrenCo arbitration was pending and the Stark Industries people were being particularly slow in replying. Even the pro bono case seemed to have ground to a halt, with the client suddenly sending him an e-mail stating that she had 'family issues' and would be unable to do anything until at least three weeks later.

Thankfully, Dick seemed to be facing the same situation and came in mid-morning to ask about some numbers regarding the Montenegro file. When Kaldur opened his mouth to ask just what on earth the Montenegro file was, and why he was suddenly on number-crunching duty, Dick simply shook his head and motioned for him to follow.

They were just about to head out into the foyer when Kaldur finally got it. He bit back a grin when the receptionist waved at the two of them and they got into the lift, Dick rambling on about Powerpoints and spreadsheets.

No sooner had the elevator doors slid shut did Dick sigh and lean back against the wall. "This is such a drag," he moaned upwards at the ceiling. "I mean, I know I should be grateful for quiet days, but quiet days usually mean that there's nothing to do, and if there's nothing to do then why am I coming into work?" Kaldur had to agree on that point. Still, at least he now had a little more time to talk to Dick, as the other would likely be busy in the foreseeable future and one lunchtime was probably not enough to cover the Wally issue _and_ Conner's parentage.

It turned out that Dick did actually occasionally keep other people's secrets for them. When asked about Conner, he immediately clammed up, going so far as to mime zipping his lips shut. "It's not my place to say," Dick said finally. "And it's a touchy subject, so don't just randomly bring it up around Conner hoping to startle something out of him either, okay?"

"You won't even tell me if I guess correctly?" Kaldur tried to wheedle, but to no avail. Dick was determined to keep this secret.

"Wally's sitting through midterms," Kaldur idly commented. Dick nodded in reply.

"I know."

"He always get that stressed out?"

Dick sighed. "Yeah, always. He gets so wound up he forgets to eat, then he tries to make up for it by eating tons in one go and of course that gives him a stomach ache, he winds up unable to focus, goes to bed early and then wakes up in a mad panic because he thinks he didn't finish everything he needed to finish."

"Sounds intense." The other simply shrugged in response.

"That's Wally," Dick commented. "He's pretty intense when it comes to stuff he cares about."

"I can imagine."

They came to Kaldur's office at that point and Dick nodded as he continued on toward his own office. _So Dick knows about the midterms and how strung out Wally gets. _Kaldur turned that piece of information over in his mind, wondering how he could use it to mend the rift between his two friends.

The good news was that the meeting with Nocturne seemed to have restored Dick to his usual impish self. His familiar giggle echoed through the Wayne & Co corridors, and it appeared that Prank Fridays had returned with a vengeance. Even John Jones, known for his legendary poker face and uncanny ability to second-guess his opponents, was heard to cry "Dammit, Grayson!" when he became the recipient of a particularly ingenious prank involving two live chickens and the Confederate flag. Kaldur did not even want to know where the poultry came from.

Kaldur had no idea how so much paper had managed to accumulate on his desk when he looked up mid-morning and was suddenly confronted with a sea of white, with the occasional slip of yellow or orange in the middle. He groaned quietly and tried not to let it bother him, but he just knew that he'd be staying an extra hour after work just to clean the place up. He groaned and dived back into the files, hoping fervently that this particular subsidiary company was squeaky-clean.

One o'clock came and went, and when Dick failed to show up after fifteen minutes Kaldur decided to go ask if his friend wanted lunch. "Dick?" He turned in at his friend's door and blinked at the sight of Kory, precariously perched on the desk whilst Dick gave her what could only be described as a lady-killing smile. He winced and hastily made himself scarce, hoping he hadn't interrupted anything.

Kaldur was not normally given over to melodrama or gossip. So he was absolutely shocked when, upon returning to the safety of his own office, his first instinct was to pick up the phone and relay what he had seen to Artemis, of all people. "Hello?" Artemis sounded vaguely annoyed and Kaldur forced down a wave of awkwardness.

"Uh, hey. It's Kaldur."

"Hi, Kaldur. You all right?"

"Uh – did Dick mention anything about a love interest?"

He could practically hear Artemis's ears perk up. "No," she said down the phone in disbelief. "You're lying. Dick's only got eyes for one person, and that's – well, you can pretty well guess who it is."

Kaldur decided to act on his suspicions. "Well, she's definitely a redhead," he commented. "A very pretty redhead with green eyes."

"Ha! I knew you were smart!" Artemis crowed down the phone. "But seriously now – who? Dick didn't mention anyone he was interested in at the office."

"I'm not sure I should be telling you…"

"Stop being such a tease. You say one thing that gets us all interested, and then you just withhold more information even though I know you have it? I don't think so."

"It involves my colleagues. Of course I'm going to be careful about what I say!"

"You know I'll find out eventually."

"Fine, then you can stand to wait a little longer."

Artemis growled in frustration. "So what do you want me to do about it? I assume you called me for a reason."

Kaldur looked around at the office and thought about Kory and Dick just four doors down. "Listen, I'll tell you as soon as I get out of the office. I need lunch and I don't want to discuss this…thing over the phone _in the office._ Call you in ten minutes or so. Bye." Ignoring Artemis' protests, he pressed the 'End Call' button and headed for the door.

The next time Artemis picked up, it was with a great deal less patience. "Spill already!"

"I don't suppose you know someone called Kory Anders? She works in the HR department here."

"Never heard of her."

"I think she's had a crush on Dick for a while now, but he's never shown any interest. Until now."

"What did he do? Did he kiss her or something?"

"No. She was sitting on his desk and he was smiling up at her."

"Okay," Artemis sounded a little skeptical now. "Are you sure they weren't just having a friendly conversation? Because I know he sometimes mentions that a couple of the other first-year associates see absolutely nothing wrong with sitting on desks to have conversations. And Dick usually smiles at people when he's making conversation."

"Uh, no. The last time someone smiled at me like that, I ended up...in unfamiliar territory."

"You're going to have to tell me the full story sometime. And whether or not that someone was Roy." Artemis let him splutter for a minute before continuing like nothing had happened. "So Dick's moving onto someone else," she mused. "This can't be good."

"I felt that you were the only person to discuss this with. I'm not sure Conner would take kindly to it."

"I don't think Conner would care too much; right now, all he's thinking about is impressing you," Artemis commented. When Kaldur tried to protest, she shushed him unceremoniously. "It's the truth. You really are putting the screws to him, aren't you? And yes, I am aware of the pun involved."

Kaldur sighed. "So there you have it. Dick's clearly more affected by this whole Wally business than previously thought, and he's about to start a workplace romance. With the Head of Human Resources."

"She's _in charge_ of human resources? He's dead meat if he breaks up with her. And why aren't you doing something to intervene?"

"Because there's nothing more awkward than having to stage an intervention for someone you met less than a month ago," Kaldur replied briskly.

"…Okay, fine," Artemis conceded. "Well, seeing as you've been so generous as to come to me first with news of Dick's new fling, I feel I ought to tell you something in return too. Your alleged boyfriend hooked up with my sister. I found them this morning."

"Roy's sleeping with your sister?"

"Good job Kaldur, you're not even hesitating when I say 'pretend boyfriend' anymore. That's promising. But yes, your jackass ginger slept _with my sister_. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to bleach my brain once more and hopefully the images will have faded to something acceptable by the end of the year. And try and keep Dick and Kory apart. He's just going to wind up breaking her heart and then all hell will really break loose if she decides to use her super-HR powers for vengeance."

"That rolled off the tongue awfully easy for you."

"Oh, sweetheart, Dick might be incredibly talented and practically a genius, but this is definitely not the first time we've had to stop him from doing something monumentally stupid involving HR. Consider this your initiation."

"Baptism of fire, more like," Kaldur muttered but Artemis had already hung up. Then he thought for a moment. Dick clearly had feelings for Wally, and apparently had done so for a substantial amount of time. He didn't know Wally's feelings on the matter, although he didn't think anyone really did, and last but not least, Roy had hooked up with Artemis' sister. He made a mental note to rag on his friend; after all, he had a lot of payback to dish out and he certainly wasn't going to waste such a wonderful opportunity. And now he was also in charge of making sure Dick and Kory's relationship didn't go anywhere. How had he come to end up meddling in someone else's love life so quickly? It had to be the water. Well, at least he could now definitively prove to Conner that he and Roy were not boyfriends.

* * *

So things are coming together now for everyone! Thank you for sticking with the story so far and I hope you've enjoyed it! Comments are much appreciated and take care!


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

Disclaimer: I don't own YJ.

* * *

As the afternoon marched on, Kaldur found himself growing restless. He flipped to the last page of each document more frequently than usual, counting all the sheets in between each time as though if he did it often enough, they would somehow decrease in number. They didn't.

Thankfully, he managed to finish everything he needed to do at seven pm on the dot, and with no small amount of relief tidied everything away in preparation for the weekend. A shiver of anticipation went through him as he thought of going out with Conner, something he hadn't allowed himself to think about too much for fear that it would distract him from other things. Thinking of Conner led him to remember Roy and their last, rather brief conversation. He smirked and picked up the phone, grinning at the thought of making the other squirm for a change.

"Mr. Ahm," Roy answered so smoothly it was as if he'd been expecting the call all along. "How can I help you?"

"Roy?"

"Yes?" Roy sounded so utterly serene Kaldur wondered if some evil corporation had kidnapped the real Roy Harper and replaced him with a clone.

"You busy?"

"Hang on, I'll get back to you in a minute." He heard the low murmur of voices in the background and wondered if his friend was ever not surrounded by people.

"Thank God you called." That was more like the Roy he'd grown up with. "Martina Larsson is _terrifying_."

"Roy, did you just take my call over dealing with actual _clients_?" Surely his friend would not be that foolhardy.

There was a derisive sound over the phone. "It's fine. My supervisor just needed eye-candy to distract her, paunchy and balding as he is."

"You can't just walk out!" Kaldur groaned. "It's a chance to make a good impression!"

"Believe me, I already made a great impression."

"Roy." Kaldur mustered up as much steel into his voice as he could. "You are going to go back inside and do your job."

Roy growled. "You know what she did?" His voice dropped so low he was practically hissing down the phone. "She pinched my ass on the way to the conference room!"

Kaldur could not repress a smile. "Not your type then?"

"She's _seventy-six_."

"You always did like older women—"

"Shut up. I hate you so much right now." Without so much as a good-bye, Roy hung up and Kaldur was left listening to a dead tone. Well, at least he'd gotten his friend back into the conference room.

Just as he was looking around the now-tidy office in satisfaction, Dick stopped by. He was dressed down for once, suit jacket off and sleeves rolled up messily. "Hey, you heading out now?"

"Yes," Kaldur replied. "You?"

Dick grinned widely. "You free for dinner tonight?"

Kaldur thought for a moment. Well, why not, he thought. It would give him a chance to dig for more information on Conner, and quite possibly deal with this Wally and Dick mess. "Sure."

"Sweet! I know a good teppanyaki place."

After wandering through a seemingly endless maze of side-streets and dimly lit back alleys, Dick finally stopped at a discreetly hidden door and opened it, motioning for Kaldur to go inside first. He carefully stepped through the doorway and looked around. It was cozy, dimly lit but still clean and seemed well-kept. A low buzz filled the room and he saw that there were only two or three seats left around the chefs.

"Welcome to Kokuren!" A blonde man, who looked just as Japanese as Kaldur did, stepped forward and bowed lightly. "Do you have a reservation?"

"Victor."

The man blinked and looked up at them before breaking into a smile. "Dick, good to see you again. Table for two?"

"You know it."

They were soon safely ensconced in a tiny nook that afforded them a full view of the restaurant, but was quiet enough to talk without having to shout or worry about being overheard. "Come here often?" Kaldur asked.

"Yeah, used to come here with some of the guys after work. It's got a good drinks menu too, lots of original stuff."

"They're more than welcome to come too, you know," Kaldur commented. "I won't mind if you want to have dinner with the other colleagues."

Dick snickered. "Truth be told, I'm more in the mood for a quiet dinner. It's been a long week, you know?"

Kaldur sighed. "Tell me about it."

"I heard you're working on Barry Allen's stuff now. He's a good guy, won't give you too much hassle or anything. And he takes good care of his department, particularly the newbies." He gave Kaldur a grin of acknowledgment.

"He's been very kind."

"Yeah, he's big on the whole being friendly thing. And he genuinely means what he says too; it's not just an act he puts on to fool people. He's honestly that nice."

"I'm glad to hear that," Kaldur joked. "So what about Clark Kent then?" He asked. "I hear he's pretty nice too. His entire department gets off early on Fridays."

Dick cackled. "I know, it's easy to forget he heads up one of the best litigation departments in the country right?"

Kaldur grinned. "He's so…amiable."

"I know, I think that's what gets his opponents all the time," Dick commented. "They see this guy who's kind of quiet and really easy-going, they get into the courtroom, he takes his glasses off and they realize they have no idea what just hit them."

"So what was that whole thing with him and Conner and you and…well, everything?"

Dick raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else. Kaldur sighed when he realized the other was determined to make him work for the information, although why he couldn't understand. After all, it wasn't as though he'd been particularly quiet about Conner's misconception of his and Roy's relationship.

"You're terrible, you know that?" He asked Dick. The other cackled in response and beamed at the waitress as she placed a gigantic plate of sushi and sashimi on the table.

"Further and proper particulars as to the nature of the inquiry," Dick sang out happily and Kaldur rolled his eyes.

"Are Conner and Clark Kent related by blood?"

Dick thought for a moment and then slowly shook his head. "It's not my story to tell," he said finally. Kaldur noted that the other did seem genuinely remorseful, but he also knew that the other was likely good enough to become an Oscar winner should he ever choose to go into acting. "It's a really…personal thing. One that Conner might not like if you found out before he wanted to talk about it."

"You mean like estranged-family stuff?"

Dick gave him a pitying look. "Come on Kaldur, I'm not _that _easy."

"This sushi is pretty good," Kaldur commented as he finished another piece. "How did you find this place?"

Dick still looked wary but answered him promptly anyway. "Stumbled in on it after a late night at the office with a bunch of fellow trainees; this was when I hadn't qualified yet." Seeing Kaldur's puzzled look, he explained further. "We need to do two years of articling – kind of like housemanship for doctors – before we're considered independent lawyers. Most firms hire you for the two years and then see whether you're worth re-hiring afterwards."

"I see. So when they say trainees – they're just starting their two years' training?" Kaldur vaguely remembered one of his professors mentioning that Commonwealth countries preferred to have fresh grads undergo a training period of two years before qualifying as actual practitioners, but he didn't recall too many details.

Dick nodded and grinned mischievously. "They have no idea what they're in for."

"Are they just going to be…set loose?"

"No, no, don't worry," the other replied, "they're assigned a number of the associates and partners because they have to rotate around departments first, get a feel for what areas they might want to practice when they qualify."

"I see. So who supervised you?"

Dick chuckled. "It's a different person for each department, obviously. I worked with…let's see, Clark Kent for litigation, Dinah Lance for shipping, Hal Jordan for corporate and Helena Bertinelli for insurance."

"Not Bruce?"

"No, he was never my direct supervisor, but he and Clark are close, so he was usually working alongside us."

"I just thought, since you two seem close—"

"Yeah," One corner of Dick's mouth twisted upwards. "We…work together well. He's not as friendly as Barry or Clark, but he'll help anyone who asks." The waitress chose this moment to place a basket of tempura in front of them and Dick's chopsticks shot out so quickly the only reason Kaldur even knew he'd moved was because of the gigantic prawn that his colleague was now chewing on.

"So Tim's coming to visit you soon?" He vaguely remembered Dick saying something of the sort.

The other man beamed. "Yeah, he's looking forward to it. I think he's mostly just back for Al-Alfred's cookies though." The hesitation in his voice made Kaldur wonder just why Dick would be so uncomfortable about saying it, but at the same time he was glad that the other seemed to be opening up.

"Alfred?"

"Our…" The other paused for a moment before squaring his shoulders, clearly resigned to spitting it out. "Our butler."

Kaldur blinked. "You mean…like an actual butler? A gentleman's gentleman?" Okay, so his friends had made him watch three seasons of Jeeves and Wooster when he'd told them he was moving to London.

"Yes. A gentleman's gentleman." Dick slouched even lower in his chair, looking for all the world like an awkward teenager. "He's family."

"…Right." Seeing how uncomfortable his friend was with the entire conversation, Kaldur let it go. For now. "So do you have any plans for you and Tim?"

"Not really, it'll probably just be a quiet weekend, spending time with the family and whatnot. And Damien's coming home from boarding school for the weekend too, so it'll be pretty crowded in the house."

"You all live together? In Mayfair?" Kaldur blinked in confusion.

"Well, no. They're staying at the…mansion." Dick's lips twisted in a wry smile. Kaldur fought the urge to gawk like some back-country hick.

Dick gave him a wary look. "Is this going to cause problems?"

"What? No! No, I'm just…I'm just trying to wrap my head around all of this," Kaldur hastily explained. "It's not every day your friend reveals he's a secret millionaire."

Dick still looked wary, but some of the tension drained out of his shoulders. "That's good," he said slowly. "That's – that's good."

Kaldur decided to quit while he was ahead. "The food here is amazing. I haven't had such good Japanese since LA."

Dick practically glowed with pride at that. "I know, right? It's one of the hidden gems around this area." Then he grinned mischievously. "And since it's Friday night, why don't we get some sake? It's imported from Japan."

"I can't," the other politely tried to decline. "I–"

"Reached your alcohol quota for the month already? Shame, I thought you were a better drinker than that." Victor came over with a tray and two small cups, along with a pitcher of what Kaldur presumed was the sake. How the staff even knew Dick's intentions before they'd even been voiced out loud was a mystery to him.

His colleague poured the sake into both cups and pushed one closer to his side of the table. "Drink up," Dick said with an impish grin as he tossed back the first cup.

Some time later, Kaldur leaned back in his chair with a sigh of contentment and loosened his tie. His suit jacket hung precariously on the back of his chair, one sleeve almost brushing the floor but he didn't care right now. Dick was just as relaxed, tie crumpled up on the table and a dull red flush slowly making its way up from his neck. "Pretty good stuff, isn't it?" The other asked smugly.

"Yeah." They sat in comfortable silence for a while before Dick reached out to refill both their cups.

"We should probably be going soon," the dark-haired man commented lightly. "You've got a big day with Conner tomorrow, after all. Wouldn't want you to be late."

Kaldur grinned at the thought and Dick cackled. "Look at you," the man teased. "All smiley and dopey. All you need now are cartoon hearts floating around your head."

Instead of dignifying this with a reply, Kaldur refilled both their cups. "Drink up," he smiled.

Kaldur looked over at Dick as the cab pulled up to Number 32. "You going to be okay?" He asked. His friend sputtered awake. "Yeah, no, I'll be fine, go ahead," he slurred. "Park Street, Mayfair," he said imperiously before collapsing back into the seat. The driver raised a hand in acknowledgment and barely waited for Kaldur to close the door before he drove off.

Saturday morning dawned grey and gloomy, accompanied by a distinctly chilly wind. Kaldur shivered as he jogged down the road to Flash, thinking that he would have to wear a thicker jacket next time. He was alone today; Wally had texted him saying that he was knackered after a week of exams and needed extra sleep.

"Morning Artemis," he greeted the blonde girl. She nodded in reply, giving a few more good kicks to the practice dummy before walking over.

"Big day today," she smiled. Kaldur blinked, unsure of what she meant. "You know, Conner, Brick Lane, any of that ring a bell?"

Kaldur shook his head. "Of course. I'm a little tired today, actually. I was hoping my morning workout would help me shake off the weariness. It's been a long week."

Artemis smiled. "Far be it from me to hinder you." They spent the rest of the hour sparring, only taking the occasional five-minute break to get some water and catch their breath. Mercifully, Artemis didn't press him for more details on Dick, Conner or Wally.

Kaldur was just headed downstairs to get to the Tube station when the intercom in his flat buzzed. He slammed one hand on the button. "Hello?" He asked. "Can I help you?" He heard the sound of a truck driving by and then Conner's voice came through.

"Kaldur? Hey. It's Conner. I'm, uh, downstairs. I was thinking, maybe we could go there together because the tube system is rather confusing."

Kaldur replied with a jumble of words that he hoped made some coherent sense and hastily made his way downstairs to see Conner standing outside on the pavement, face still close to the speaker. The other started slightly at his sudden appearance, but it was quickly replaced by a small, warm smile. He made a small, aborted move forward like he wanted to shake hands, but pulled back as though restraining himself. Kaldur settled for reaching over to gently touch the other man's arm.

"It's good to see you." Conner looked less unsure of himself now and slowly nodded.

"I finished early this morning," he explained. "So I thought maybe we could go over together."

Kaldur didn't care if he was grinning like a loon. "Of course."

Conner steered them through a number of narrow alleys to get to the tube station, one hand gently guiding Kaldur whenever they had to make a turn. It was an odd feeling, since he was normally the one guiding everyone else he'd ever dated, but Kaldur supposed he could get used to it eventually.

"So…any recommendations for Brick Lane?" Kaldur finally asked, since Conner seemed to be doing his best impression of a mute bodyguard. At the startled look the other gave him, he tried his best not to smirk; Dick was clearly rubbing off on him. "I hear you're an expert on Indian food," he elaborated.

Conner seemed to relax at that and looked almost sheepish. "Yeah," he admitted quietly. "I just have some…other stuff on my mind."

"Like what? Bad day at work?"

The dark-haired man shrugged. "No," he said. "More like family stuff."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kaldur just knew Dick would be laughing himself silly at the sight if he were there.

Conner seemed torn. "I, uh, it's nothing," he said after a long pause. "I don't really want to talk about it right now."

"You know it's okay to talk about it, even if it's not with me, right?"

"Yeah, I know. Just don't worry about it, okay? I don't want to think too much about it."

"Any ideas on where to go in Brick Lane?" He asked. It was a particularly unsubtle change of subject, and particularly poorly executed, but the relief in Conner's eyes was gratitude enough.

A small smile twitched at the corner of the other's lips. "I have a confession to make," Conner said carefully.

"Oh?"

"I…may have the numbers of all the best Indian places in Brick Lane and elsewhere."

Kaldur tried to fight back a smile. He must have failed miserably, because Conner suddenly hunched his shoulders defensively. "I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable," he said defensively. "And I like Indian food."

"You spent some time in India." Kaldur remembered. The pleased surprise in Conner's face was worth the slightly awkward conversation.

"Yeah. Took a gap year and wandered around most of it before deciding to become a mechanic. I think I'm probably still immune to the water."

"So I'll be expecting you to find the most authentic Indian cuisine in the area then. No pressure, of course."

Conner smiled. "Of course not."

They arrived at Aldgate in good time, shuffling through the crowd to exit the station. Kaldur blinked as the autumn air sneaked in through his slightly-too-thin coat and scarf, and he made a mental not to dig out some of his warmer clothing for next week. "Cold?" Conner asked. When Kaldur stared at him in mild confusion, the other shrugged. "You shivered," he explained.

As they headed down the road towards Brick Lane, Kaldur noticed that Connor seemed determined to press up against him and brush against his hand. Kaldur tried not to shy away self-consciously; his normal body temperature was a little cooler than most people's and when coupled with the chilly weather his hands probably felt like ice. Conner didn't seem to notice, instead stepping to one side of the pavement and motioning for Kaldur to follow him. Without so much as a warning, the brunet stripped off his jacket and swiftly stepped behind Kaldur, draping the black coat over his shoulders. It was still warm from Conner's body heat.

Kaldur resisted the urge to openly stare at Connor's well-muscled frame with what he was sure was a limited degree of success. "Aren't you cold?"

Conner shrugged. "I grew up in a much colder climate. This is actually quite pleasant."

"Are you sure you don't need your jacket?"

Conner opened his mouth to reply, but then pointed forward. They had arrived.

Kaldur had imagined Brick Lane to be rather colourful, something like a smaller version of the Bollywood films his mother sometimes liked to watch on the weekends. It was instead similar to Camden, tatty colours brightening old brick walls that had probably been standing there for years on end. People bustled to and fro, muttering apologies whenever they bumped into someone else. Kaldur stopped for a moment to examine one display consisting of brightly coloured combat boots and thought that they might make good gifts for the triplets, provided they came in children's sizes.

Conner leaned in. "Want to go look some more, or eat first?" Kaldur shivered slightly as he realized how close the man was. "Eat. We can look some more and I'm sure you're very hungry." He felt Conner nod and the man gently grabbed his wrist.

"Let's go."

After a trip down a number of small, winding alleys packed to the brim with vendors and fast-food hawkers, they wound up in front of a tiny restaurant incongruously named the Taj Mahal. The doorway was dingy and the walls were scuffed with black marks that looked like a combination of mould and dirt, and for a moment Kaldur wondered if he was going to contract food poisoning after today. Then they stepped inside, and the pungent, distinctive smell of curry reached his nose.

The inside of the restaurant glittered and shimmered thanks to a number of strategically-placed mirrors and burnished gold ornaments. The furniture was made of some heavy, dark wood and Kaldur blinked when Conner led them to a small table tucked neatly away in an alcove.

Just as they were about to pull out their chairs, two men suddenly popped out of nowhere. One was short and plump, the other tall and thin, but their identical smiles showed them to be brothers, or at least closely related. "Namaste," they said together in unison.

"I am Arjun," the plump one beamed.

"I am Vishnu," the tall, thin man continued.

"And today we shall have the honour of serving you," both chorused, smiles so wide their eyes became mere slits and crinkled at their corners.

"Please," Conner said, bowing with his palms together in greeting. "We are all friends here. There is no need to be so formal."

The two waiters chuckled and Arjun moved forward to clasp Conner's hand. "It is always a pleasure to see you here, Conner," he said warmly. "I see you have brought a friend today."

"How could I not? He wanted to explore Brick Lane, and you know no visit is complete without a meal at your restaurant."

Vishnu chuckled next to him and Kaldur gave a start. The man was like a cat. "I sense you are not from here," the Indian man commented. "A friend from abroad?"

"I moved here for a job, actually," Kaldur answered. "From LA."

The waiter's eyes lit up in understanding. "Ah, an American. Welcome to London." He gently ushered Kaldur over to a chair and pulled it out, gesturing for him to sit. "Please, have a seat. Is there anything you wish to drink? I would highly recommend the mango lassi if you would like something cool and refreshing, or the house chai should you prefer something warmer."

Conner sat down not too soon after, Arjun clapping his shoulder heartily before producing two menus seemingly out of nowhere and placing them on the table. "Take your time, gentlemen," the man beamed before leaving just as discreetly as he'd arrived. Vishnu, meanwhile, had already vanished.

"Any recommendations?" Kaldur asked. He noticed that Conner did not so much as glance at the menu before pushing it aside.

Conner immediately reeled off a list of dishes. Some Kaldur had heard of before, and some he could not even begin to pronounce. Kaldur put the menu down. "I shall leave myself in your very capable hands then," he smiled. "Since you are the expert in Indian food."

The other ducked his head and shrugged sheepishly. "I really missed India," he explained. "And Megan was actually the one who introduced me to this place. She loves spicy food."

"I…can't imagine that," Kaldur confessed. "I would've thought Megan preferred desserts above all else."

Conner looked amused. "No, she just makes them all day for a living," he quipped, startling a laugh out of Kaldur. "She's the only one you can take out for strange foods no one else would want to try."

"Like what?"

"Sweetbreads, fish heads, pig's liver congee—"

Kaldur conceded the point. "So anything unusual on today's menu that you want to disclose before we order?" Conner shook his head.

"Something tells me you wouldn't take too kindly to some of the more local cuisine," he remarked, smiling mischievously. "I'll try to ease you in."

The first dish was a plate of samosas and other, brightly colored foods Kaldur could not identify. He noticed there was a large spoon sitting on one side of the dish, presumably for serving, but other than that there was no sign of cutlery anywhere else. Seeing him glancing around, Conner explained. "It's pretty traditional. You'll have to eat the appetisers with your hands, and then they come around with the cutlery for the other hot dishes."

It turned out that forks and knives were completely unnecessary; Kaldur was sure that the chivda would have simply slipped all over the place and there was no more satisfying way to eat the chaat other than with one's hands. Between himself and Conner, they finished the food off so quickly even the waiter commented on it.

"This is amazing," Kaldur commented. His mouth felt pleasantly warm from the heat and he savoured the slight tingle of spice lingering in his throat. "So what did you do in India? How long were you there for?"

"I was there for my gap year," replied Conner. "I didn't really know what I wanted to do after high school, and I wasn't smart or anything, so my A-Levels looked pretty bad." He hunched over somewhat defensively and Kaldur wanted to reach out and tell him there was nothing wrong with that. But he knew the gesture would be seen as condescending or worse, pitying and he did not say anything. "Then I met with one of my mum's old friends; she works for an NGO and she was looking for volunteers for charity work in India. I figured I had nothing better to do anyway and three months after graduating high school, I was in India with a bunch of people I'd never met before."

"Weren't you worried about the language and…well, everything else?"

Conner gave him a half shrug. "Well, the NGO she was working for funded the entire trip, accommodation and everything, and in India most people speak some basic English." He suddenly grinned, smile in sharp contrast to his earlier defensive posture. "And we got good at charades by the end of the first week."

"What were you doing there?"

"Just a lot of heavy lifting, really. It was a makeshift shelter for this village that had been hit by flood, so they needed people to handle some of the easier admin work, move supplies; that sort of thing. They wanted me to stay on longer, but I figured I should move around, see more of the country."

"Do you rescue cats from trees too?"

"No, but I once carried an old lady across the road three seconds before the traffic lights turned red." The slight twitch at the corner of Conner's mouth belied his words and Kaldur idly thought that it was nice to see Conner smile for once. It seemed like the other was finally relaxing.

The next dish came in due course, a steaming basin (there was no other word for it) of rice and a number of bowls filled with different types of curry. They ranged from dark, rich yellow to varying shades of burnt orange, the spicy aroma shot through with coconut milk, paprika and a myriad of other spices that made Kaldur's nose sting just slightly.

Conner spooned a generous helping of rice onto Kaldur's plate, gesturing for the other man to start eating. "I'd suggest starting with the green curry and working your way up," he said. "They're arranged in order of hotness, so the green one is pretty much nothing and the red…well, the red's hot."

Kaldur took a careful spoonful of green curry, making sure it didn't spill all over the place and carefully mixed it with some of the rice. He took a cautious bite and then went back for more when it turned out not to be anywhere near as spicy as what he had expected. "This is really good," he managed out around a mouthful of the rich sauce.

"Yeah, it's incredible," Conner agreed around a mouthful of hot orange curry. "The restaurant's been through three generations, four if Arjun's son wants to take over. They're determined to serve only completely authentic home-style Indian food."

When he finally got round to the one Conner had described as being 'hot', Kaldur took an even smaller helping. He took a careful bite and braced himself, the heat searing through his mouth but nothing he couldn't handle. Encouraged by this, he went back for a second helping; it was spicy but by far the best of all the curries they'd ordered. And then his mouth exploded in flames.

Conner was up in a flash, quickly encouraging him to swallow and carefully placing a glass to his lips. As soon as he could manage it, Kaldur took a few hasty gulps and sighed in relief as the pain faded to only a dull heat lingering along the edges of his tongue and in his throat. He looked down at the curry and back at Conner, who was looking worriedly at him. "I didn't think you'd just take that all in one go," the other commented. "More lassi?"

Kaldur decided to forego dignity in favour of relief and took another gulp of lassi. The coolness washed over his tongue, immediately cutting through the remaining heat. "Thanks," he croaked out. "I thought you said it was 'hot', not 'burning-fires-of-Hell' hot."

Conner looked worried for a second until he saw what Kaldur knew was a slight grin on his face. The curry was still delicious, but he knew that he would have to take it easy for the next few minutes or so. Perhaps order a lassi too, just in case the heat became unbearable. "How did you stand it?" Kaldur asked. "The heat, I mean."

"Just got used to it, I guess. It wasn't like there was a lot of choice other than spicy and spicier."

The lawyer noticed that the other man was still standing next to him, one hand curled around the drink and the other on his back. It was nothing intimate and he knew Conner was probably only trying to make sure he didn't choke, but all the same…

"Yes, the Vindaloo does do that to some of our patrons. Would you like some more mango lassi, Conner? And perhaps another one for your friend?" Kaldur fought not to jump right out of his skin as Vishnu appeared out of nowhere to smoothly slide the glass out of Conner's hand and deposit a plate of chicken on the table. "Tandoori chicken, gentlemen. Enjoy." Throwing what could only be described as a smirk back at Kaldur, the thin man vanished into the back of the restaurant.

"So, uh…"Conner seemed to have returned to being awkward and unsure of himself, but he didn't move from where he was standing. "I'm sorry about the curry?"

Kaldur carefully reached out to place one hand over Conner's, which was still resting on the table. He knew it was a bold move, but he figured the worst case scenario was that the other would immediately bolt and that was highly unlikely.

Conner's eyes widened as he looked down at their hands and he hastily moved away, muttering something about the curry getting cold. "You should take it easy with the vindaloo," he commented. "Well, until you get used to it, anyway."

It didn't take Kaldur too long to get used to the heat of the curry and devise a method of tackling it. He smirked silently at the way Conner kept shooting him glances over the plates and hastily looking away as soon as Kaldur so much as shifted in his chair. It was honestly quite odd, to say the least. Perhaps he'd pushed Conner too far, too fast?

Regardless of what he thought, it appeared that Conner hadn't been thrown off by the touch at all. In fact, he continued to act as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, rambling on perhaps a little more about his experiences in India but essentially it was as though nothing had changed. Kaldur was just about to write everything off as a misunderstanding.

Conner made a grab for the bill before Kaldur could so much as twitch, practically throwing his card down on the table and shoving it back into Arjun's hands. "So I guess you want to check out the stalls around here next?" Conner asked as they waited for the waiter to return.

"I was thinking of getting some gifts, yes," Kaldur admitted. "My brother is thinking of planning a trip to London for Christmas, since I likely won't get time off, and I wanted to get a head start on shopping." He almost wanted to slap himself in the head after that last sentence slipped out; he sounded like his _mother_, for crying out loud.

Thankfully, the other man seemed to take everything in stride and merely nodded. "I saw you looking at the boots," he said. "We can start there and move along the street. And there should be more people now too; most of the stalls only bring out the good stuff after lunch because they know there are more potential customers about."

It was only when they stood up to leave that Kaldur remembered Conner's jacket. "Your jacket," he said hastily, trying to pass the clothing over to the other man.

"Keep it for now," Conner replied, pushing it back. "Wouldn't want you getting cold, and I think I saw something this morning about it being likely to rain sometime today."

"All the more reason to take it back," Kaldur argued. "I don't want you freezing and catching something. Besides, I'll be fine; that curry really warmed me up."

Then Conner suddenly stepped up so close to him he could almost feel the heat radiating off him and gently cupped the back of his neck with one large hand. "Do I feel cold to you?" He asked softly, warm breath feathering over Kaldur's neck and making him shiver for a completely different reason. Then a cool weight dropped around his shoulders and Conner stepped away, leaving Kaldur to blink, look down and realize that he was now wearing the leather jacket. "It's fine," Conner smiled. "Now come on. We can't stand here forever." Then he gently placed one hand on Kaldur's back and guided him out of the restaurant.

* * *

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Have a very happy Chinese New Year and all the best for the year of the snake! Reviews are much appreciated, and thank you again for reading.

In other news: YJ got cancelled? Daaang.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

Disclaimer: I don't own YJ.

A/N: Hi guys, I'm really sorry about the long wait; I've been tied up with my final exams (ever, fingers crossed!) and looking for a job and whatnot. But this chapter is extra long so…please accept the apology? Also – I feel so Harlequin-writer and cheesy right now haha.

Enjoy the next chapter!

* * *

Kaldur stepped out into the cool afternoon and shivered slightly. The weather had taken a distinct turn for the worse, sky now several shades darker and wind much colder than it had been. He found himself wishing for the more temperate climate of LA and now grateful for the leather jacket draped around his frame. He looked over at Conner and noticed that was absently rubbing his hands along his upper arms. "Are you cold?" He asked and then felt like an idiot. Of course Conner was cold, he was standing outside in a short-sleeved shirt! "I could give you back your jacket." He made to take the jacket off, but Conner's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Keep it on," Conner replied. "You'd probably freeze to death immediately, being as you're so used to warm weather and all."

With a small degree of relief, Kaldur kept the jacket on. He did however make it a point to walk closer to Conner than usual, hoping that at least some of his heat would pass to the other man. "You wanted to go see the combat boots, right?" The dark-haired man asked him. Kaldur nodded. "Then let's go."

Kaldur spent what he thought must have been an inordinately long time going through the stall keeper's goods. So far, he'd only managed to find boots for the two girls; the stall seemed to have a disproportionately larger number of shoes for girls than boys, but he supposed it made sense in the long run. After a shake of his head at the dark green, leopard-spotted boots the seller offered, he decided to move on. Perhaps he would find something better at one of the other stalls.

Much to his credit, Conner stayed remarkably quiet throughout the entire process, shifting from one foot to another and occasionally drifting away for short periods of time to look at something else. "Just these two pairs, please," he told the store keeper, who nodded and produced two shoeboxes out of some hidden compartment in the cart.

"That'll be forty pounds total, please," she told him as she wrapped the boots up. Kaldur raised an eyebrow, doing a quick calculation in his head and deciding that it could have been worse. Just as he was reaching for his wallet, Conner immediately gripped his arm and shook his head.

"They're presents for—" Kaldur started, just in case Conner intended to pay for the lot, but the other man had already turned away and was _haggling _with the man.

"Stop ripping him off, they're not worth forty pounds," the other man said dryly. "Twenty-five's more like it, really." The stall keeper made an indignant noise and came back with an equally sharp response, both parties bargaining for all they were worth. Conner was somehow both disdainful but eager to buy at the same time, causing the stall keeper to continuing pushing for more. They finally reached a compromise at thirty for both pairs and two packets of colourful laces, at which point Conner gently nudged him with the closest thing to a smug grin he'd ever seen on the other man and indicated that he should pay. The stall keeper merely rolled her eyes and practically flung the two large bags at him.

"I'm guessing that was a trick you picked up in India," Kaldur said when they were finally out of earshot. Conner ducked his head in acknowledgement.

"Sure. You couldn't do anything without a bit of haggling there, especially when money was tight and all of you looked like foreigners. I was trying not to be too aggressive or anything though."

Kaldur fought back a smile at the discreetly hopeful look Conner shot his way. "Of course not."

"So…you're doing some very early Christmas shopping."

"I have to mail the lot off if Garth and Tula can't make it here for the holidays. It's looking less likely though, seeing as the kids aren't getting too much time off and Tula got volunteered for extra shifts at the hospital over the holidays."

Conner looked surprised. "So you might be alone for the holidays?"

"Well, yes. My parents are having their annual Christmas dinner with the rest of the family, and it's not like I'm going to start asking for extra time off when I've barely even started work." Conner nodded sympathetically.

"You could come for Christmas dinner with us, you know," he offered. Kaldur blinked.

"Sorry?"

"Us. Me, Wally, Rob, Artemis, Megan – everyone really. Robin's family always does a big party at Christmas and everyone who's a friend is welcome to come." He looked at Kaldur thoughtfully and smiled a small, secret smile that made Kaldur swallow hard and shiver. "I think you'd be more than welcome."

"Isn't it a bit…presumptuous to be inviting me to someone else's family party?" Kaldur asked, trying for mildly interested but probably coming off as a little unsure.

Conner smiled again and Kaldur shivered. "Honestly? If I didn't invite you, Dick would probably do it himself."

"That's…very generous of him."

"He likes you, you know." Kaldur blinked again and tried not to look too surprised. He'd thought Dick was only being nicer to him since he did live upstairs from Wally, after all. "Don't look so worried. We're not going to let you spend your first Christmas in London alone. At least, not if Dick and Wally have a say in it. Or me, for that matter."

They wandered around Brick Lane some more, Conner determinedly asking questions about Kaldur's family and pointing out things he thought might make good presents. He didn't have impeccable taste – most of his choices leaned towards the wildly practical (like an ironing board for his mother) – but for the most part Kaldur appreciated the help.

The rain grew steadily worse, soon pelting down in heavy, cold bullets that cleared out the streets in under an hour. Conner and Kaldur headed for the sidewalk, shuffling from one awning to the next in a vain attempt not to get wet. Upon seeing a fairly decent-looking cafe, Kaldur hastily pulled them both over and slipped through the door, wincing as the umbrella dripped onto the soggy mat haphazardly placed at the entrance.

Conner, for his part, looked relieved to be out of the rain and absently rubbed his upper arms in what was likely an attempt to warm himself. Kaldur tried not to feel too guilty over that, but made sure they snagged a secluded spot away from the door.

No sooner than they settled in, his phone went off. Kaldur hastily looked at the number – it was likely his mother – and quickly excused himself, thankful that she hadn't tried to call five minutes earlier.

"Kaldur, darling, I thought you said you'd _call_," his mother began. He could just see her now; reproachful eyes and all. "Your father's been absolutely mad with worry."

_Fat chance. _If his father had truly been worried, he would have called himself or sent a polite message. "I'm sorry," he said automatically. "Work's been so busy, and I'm actually out with someone right now—"

Whatever his mother had been about to say immediately took second place to his last words, and Kaldur sorely regretted phrasing it like that. "Out? With who? Roy?"

"No, someone else."

"Now Kaldur," his mother's voice took on a distinctly cajoling tone, "you know you can tell me anything, don't you? Are you out with a lady friend?"

"No!"

"Oh, it must be a man then. Oh Kaldur, I'm so proud of you! I bet you're just breaking hearts left and right over there."

"Mom, I have to-"

"Don't be shy," Mera cooed. "Is he handsome? I bet he is. And he probably has one of those charming English accents too, doesn't he?"

"Mom!" Kaldur hissed, mortified and fully aware that Conner was still waiting for him back at the table. "I'm _busy_. Just – can I call you back later? Please?" When his mother tried to say something else, he quickly cut her off. "I promise to bring my laptop down to the cafe and Skype you tonight."

"Oh all right then," his mother huffed in an atrocious imitation of a British accent. "But you'd better tell me about this young man of yours. Bye darling!"

Even though he knew there was absolutely no way Conner could have heard any part of that conversation, Kaldur still found himself blushing as he returned to the table. "Sorry," he explained. "Phone call."

"It's not urgent, right?" Conner asked.

"No, not at all." Kaldur barely managed to hide a wince from making its way across his face. "Just my family." He caught the brief flash of envy in Conner's eyes and felt a small twinge of shame at having so quickly blown his mother off. Not everyone had parents who cared about them, or had the time to talk.

"So you said you had plans tomorrow, right?" Kaldur asked, desperate for a change of topic. Conner nodded, rubbing circles into the glass table with his thumb.

"Yeah. I have to see – someone."

"It's not anything serious, is it?"

"No, no, nothing of the sort." Conner gave a morose sigh and continued rubbing the table.

After the waitress stopped by for the third time to ask if they'd decided on a drink yet, they finally placed their orders. It turned out Conner preferred tea to coffee. When Kaldur raised an eyebrow in amusement at the other man's order (standard tea), Conner simply shrugged in response. "I drink a lot of coffee at work," he explained. "Tea's nice for a change."

The coffee was a lot stronger than Kaldur was used to; on his first swallow, choked in surprise at the strong flavour that filled his mouth. "Too much?" Conner asked in amusement, one eyebrow cocked. "This isn't your weak American junk."

"Never pegged you for a coffee snob," Kaldur replied.

Conner smirked and reached for the coffee, taking a quick swallow and looking somewhat surprised. "That is pretty strong." He looked directly at Kaldur, lips still curved upwards in a continuation of the smirk from before. "Rich flavour and with underlying sweetness. Pretty good aftertaste too." Kaldur blinked. Were they still talking about the coffee?

"Tea?" Conner politely offered like he hadn't just taken a drink from Kaldur's cup and then slipped in what could have been easily construed as innuendo. "I can get them to bring an extra cup."

Making sure to lean forward directly into Conner's personal space and brush lightly against his arm, Kaldur took a sip from the mug of tea sitting innocuously on the table. He hummed in appreciation at the fragrance and the burst of distinctive tanginess before leaning in again. "Strong, dark and sweet."

Conner looked at him for a moment and then reached out, gently cupping Kaldur's chin and tilting his head upwards. They were so close now only one of them needed to shift forward slightly for more. It was only logical that he do so, considering that Conner had been doing all the work so far. And of course, Kaldur believed in fairness at all times, if nothing else.

As far as first kisses went, it probably wasn't ideal. Kaldur's neck was beginning to twinge uncomfortably and he was sure Conner's back was not happy about being twisted around so. But Kaldur only thought of these things afterwards, and if physical discomfort was enough to put him off a relationship it probably wasn't worth pursuing anyway.

The kiss was relatively short, Conner quickly pulling away and looking around as though aware of where they were. "Sorry," he mumbled, hastily pulling away. "I meant—uh, didn't mean to—"

"It's fine," Kaldur whispered. "I liked it." He darted in for another brief kiss and leaned back in his chair, unable to fight the goofy grin making its way across his face.

The weather looked to have cleared up somewhat by the time they finished their drinks, chatting amiably about everything and anything. Conner was still reticent, but it was as though the kiss had finally broken the last remaining bits of ice between them and by the time they realised the rain had let up, it was already close to evening.

"So I guess we should go," Kaldur finally said, albeit with a slight tinge of reluctance. It was a wonder no one had come to bother them yet, but judging from the way the waitresses took it in turns to come around, he imagined they were probably more than happy to have him and Conner in the place. Particularly since every round was almost inevitably followed by giggles and coos of 'how sweet!'

Conner hummed and sat up. "I guess so," he agreed, looking around. "I've got an early start tomorrow and Wally will probably wake you up three hours earlier than usual."

"What makes you think Wally's going to stop by?"

Conner gave him an amused look. "You live _right upstairs_ from him. Without Dick, I imagine he'll be looking for someone to spend the day with. Don't be surprised if he drags you down to see Megan again."

"…I'll bear that in mind."

They slowly walked back to the tube station, Kaldur still wearing Conner's jacket since the other man insisted he take it until they got into the station. "I'll walk you home," Conner immediately said when Kaldur made to take off the coat.

Kaldur blinked. "That's really not—!" Conner had suddenly leaned down and pulled him in for a searing kiss. Kaldur dimly registered a few catcalls in the background, but they faded away as he focused on the man currently kissing him.

Conner pulled away, blue eyes a little darker than usual and breathing heavily. "Keep the jacket for now. I'm still taking you home." Kaldur blinked dazedly and let the other man lead him through the turnstiles to scattered applause from various bystanders.

They spent the ride back to King's Cross doing everything but outright making out in the back of the tube like a pair of horny teenagers. Conner would make it a point to bump into Kaldur (but not too hard) every time the train swayed, hands wandering all over the place. For his part, Kaldur nibbled delicately along one side of Conner's neck, pulling away whenever the other turned around and tried to kiss him. They only stopped when they heard the final call for Euston station and made a mad dash for the door, apologising along the way.

The walk back to the apartment went by more quickly than it usually did, both of them pressed close together under the pretext of sharing body heat. The first few drops of rain started to fall just when they reached Number 32. Kaldur fumbled slightly with the key and they finally both stumbled in, still huddled together. Conner pressed a small kiss to the top of his head before reluctantly pulling away. "I gotta go," he said a little breathlessly.

"Yeah, course," Kaldur somehow managed to reply. He hastily shrugged the other's man's jacket off his shoulders and handed it back. Instead of just taking the jacket though, Conner stepped forward and pulled him in for a hard kiss. Part of Kaldur protested indignantly at being manhandled like a Harlequin heroine, but the rest of him was more than happy to go along with everything. They reluctantly pulled apart at the sound of footsteps heading towards them, and Connor placed a last, quick peck on Kaldur's cheek. "See you around," he whispered quickly before darting out into the drizzle.

"Who was that?" It was Nick from the second floor, the man who'd asked Wally for help with the iron the other day.

"A friend," Kaldur responded, not wanting to get too into details. Nick chuckled.

"Must have been some friend," he commented as he headed out the door.

Kaldur was greeted on the third floor by a group of confused and irritated-looking men, all of whom wore bright red shirts with a truck emblazoned on the front and back. "Now see here," one of them said. "We were hired to move everything from this flat to –" He consulted a crumpled green sheet, "To South Street, Mayfair, W1K."

"And I am telling you, you are not moving a single thing!" Wally was standing in the doorway, arms akimbo and still wearing his Flash uniform. The movers muttered amongst themselves, but thankfully no one tried to force past Wally. Kaldur wondered what was going on.

"Oh Kaldur, thank God," Wally babbled on seeing him. "Could you help me out? Please? These guys are trying to move my stuff. Without my permission."

"Sir," one man tried, "The entire amount has been paid in full. We can't just go back and say we didn't do anything because some student said no."

"I don't care!" Wally barked. "You can change the date, can't you? So just go back, I'll call the person who sent you and he can readjust. Or whatever."

"Are you sure it isn't possible to just reschedule?" Kaldur tried. "I'm sure the contract will still hold if you decide to come back at another confirmed time." There were doubtful mutters from the small group, but no one said anything. Finally one man spoke up.

"We could, but we're not going to be sued for not doing what the contract says we have to do." He held up a crumpled sheet of green paper which Kaldur took to be the contract.

"May I see that please?" He asked in his most authoritative voice. "And your name?"

"…Ben," the man said reluctantly.

"Right. Ben. Could you possibly give me and my friend a moment to look over the contract please?"

"Whatever. Instructions are instructions."

The contract was fairly standard and Kaldur soon had the clause he needed. "If I put the person who made the order on the phone with you, and tell him to instruct you to call off the delivery, will you do it?"

"Don't see why not," Ben shrugged. "Beats sitting out here waiting on you. Just make sure he talks to the company too, okay? Don't want them firing me and my friends here just because they think we acted out or something."

Kaldur nodded. "I understand, Ben," he said as calmly as he could. Meanwhile, he was already thinking of ways in which to convince Dick that calling off the movers would be in all of their best interests.

It turned out that Wally was more than happy to ring up Dick himself, shouting down the phone loudly enough to scare some of the movers outside. "I don't care!" He heard Wally yell for the fourth time from behind the closed bedroom door. "You call the moving company right now and tell them I don't _need_ my stuff moved anymore, so help me God!" Some of the movers snickered, but Kaldur paid them no heed.

After what Kaldur was sure was a long, heated discussion, he heard what sounded like the final words. "Yeah, _Dick_? Well, here's a newsflash: nobody _cares_!" Wally snapped. "Just call the moving company already."

The redhead stepped out into the hallway and gave them all a dazzling smile. "Rob – er, Dick Grayson – is calling the company right now. So you should be getting a call pretty soon."

True to his word, Ben's phone went off ten minutes later and he hemmed and hawed down the line before sighing. "Guess we'll be seeing each other again sometime," the man told Wally. "Though I can't really say I'll be looking forward to it."

"Honestly," Wally responded, uncharacteristically serious, "I'm not either. No offence, guys." There were various murmurs as the group made its way back down the stairs.

Kaldur looked at Wally and raised an eyebrow. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"I'm pretty sure they're worth more than a penny," the other deadpanned. "Honestly, Kal, I'm just…really, really tired."

"Of course." Kaldur turned to leave, but remembered something he needed to ask the other about. "So…about Thursday…"

"Course." Wally flapped a hand at him. "Like I said, just drop off the keys on your way to work on Thursday and we'll be good."

"And if you ever need to talk—"

"Way ahead of you, man. Thanks." Wally shut the door before Kaldur had a chance to respond.

Kaldur wondered if he should call Dick about going out the next day, or whether he should wait for the other to contact him. After all, he did just indirectly help Wally; whether his colleague would view this as Kaldur taking sides remained to be seen. As he made his way up the last flight of stairs, he wondered what could have possessed Dick to call movers for Wally. Surely the man had made it abundantly clear that nothing would drag him away from his flat?

Remembering that his mother was expecting a Skype call, Kaldur immediately packed up his laptop and headed for the late-night cafe downstairs that provided free wi-fi. He quickly sent off a quick text message informing his parents that he was available to Skype. Not more than five minutes later, he was chatting with Arthur.

"It's wonderful to hear from you, son," Arthur told him. "You're looking well – how is London?"

They talked for a while about the usual things; work, grandchildren, sports and current events. It turned out that his father had recently been asked to go to the triplets' school to talk about his work as a marine biologist for Careers Day. "I ask you, Kaldur," he chuckled, "What seven year-old is going to be thinking about a career? Schools these days are just so _focussed_; no time to let kids explore, or play, or anything except work!"

"At least you have plenty of exciting, animal-related stories," Kaldur told him. Arthur chuckled again.

"Marine biology's a very exciting field," he said and Kaldur braced himself for yet another lecture on how many opportunities were available to anyone interested in pursuing a career in that particular field. "And the kids liked hearing about my work with the dolphins in Hawaii and Japan much more than they liked hearing about the life of an accountant." Kaldur blinked; that wasn't quite what he'd been expecting.

"I'm sure they did," Kaldur chuckled.

"Well," Arthur sighed, leaning back in the chair, "gotta make sure the triplets know how cool their granddad is, right? Can't have them thinking just because I'm getting on in years that I'm boring."

"Nobody thinks you're boring, dear," Mera interrupted as she slipped into the second chair. "Hello there Kaldur!" She waved.

"I'll just be leaving then," Arthur smiled. "Take care of yourself, son. And do keep in touch, even if it's via texting."

As soon as Arthur wandered off beyond the webcam's view, Mera immediately slipped into the empty chair and leaned forward. "So, Kal darling, tell me about this young man of yours."

It turned out Arthur hadn't left the room; just the view of the webcam. "What's this? Kaldur, you're seeing someone?"

Kaldur sighed. "I'm not – we're – he's –we met at a party," he finished rather lamely. Mera's brows furrowed in concern.

"Oh darling, do be careful," she said. "I mean, I was just reading the newspapers about this poor girl who went home with a man she met at a bar and wound up in an alleyway with her throat slit. These men are so good at fooling everyone, you know, and you all alone in a strange city—"

"It's not like that," Kaldur hastily interrupted. "Wally had a house party, and Conner – the person I'm, er, seeing – is one of his friends." His parents already knew about Wally and Dick; he'd mentioned them a few times in his texts and e-mails back home, and they had both expressed numerous times how happy they were to hear that he was settling in well and had found friends.

"Oh, Wally introduced you," Mera said. "So what's this boy's name? The one you're seeing?" Kaldur paused for a moment; Arthur had clearly decided that he too wanted part of the conversation and had made himself comfortable in the chair beside Mera.

"Conner. Conner Kent."

Mera's eyes lit up. "Were you with him this afternoon? What's he like?" Arthur raised an eyebrow at this, clearly unhappy that his son had failed to disclose such important information, but he didn't add anything else.

"I was. We were in Brick Lane; it's famous for Indian food and there's a marketplace sort of thing too." Kaldur chose his words carefully. "And then we got caught in the rain, so we had to spend a while in a coffee shop." He made sure _not_ to mention anything else, especially not about gift-shopping.

"So what's he like?" Mera asked.

"He's…he's a good person. He's straightforward, kind and independent." Kaldur knew he was smiling from the pleased expressions on his parents' faces.

"How old is he? Is he good-looking? Do you have a photo?" Mera pressed. Arthur looked mortified.

"Honey, I don't think Kaldur—"

"Don't be silly, I just want to know more about him," Mera argued. "Besides, a handsome young lawyer like our son is an undeniably wonderful catch. I just want to make sure he's not being taken advantage of!"

Arthur gave him a discreetly sympathetic look but wisely kept his mouth shut. "Mom, I don't think I'm going to be…taken advantage of," Kaldur dryly commented even as he looked around the quiet cafe to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "I think he's a bit younger than me. He works as a mechanic; he's even helping me get the TV and Internet in my flat sorted out."

"Oh!" Mera clapped her hands happily. "A mechanic! He must be good with his hands then. That's very important, Kaldur. I always did think you preferred them a little rough around the edges."

"Mera," Arthur hastily interrupted, much to Kaldur's relief. "Perhaps we should let Kaldur get to know this…Conner a bit better. It's only been a few months, I'm sure there will be many more opportunities to pump him for information. Now, weren't you saying something about Christmas holidays just before we started the computer up?"

It turned out that Garth and Tula would not be able to make it to London for the holidays, but Arthur was arranging for two weeks off from work and Mera had already confirmed time off during Christmas. "So we'll be coming to London instead," Mera happily concluded. "I do hope we won't be any trouble for you, dear; we're staying at the Atlantis Hotel and I have a few friends I want to visit, so you won't have to worry about us at all. But it would be wonderful if you could maybe spare a weekend for us, and of course Christmas and New Year's!"

"Of course," Kaldur immediately responded. "I always have time for you, you know that mom."

"I know you're very busy and you probably want to spend some part of Christmas with your friends," Mera said gently. "But we just wanted to make sure you wouldn't have to spend your first Christmas away from home by yourself."

"Don't worry," Kaldur told her. "I'll definitely make time for you. We can go around London together and have brunch. Like we always do – did – on Sunday mornings."

They talked some more (although, thankfully, not about his love life). And when his parents had to log off, Kaldur felt a small prickle at the corners of his eyes. He hadn't realised how much he still missed LA, even though he was settling down in London. Speaking to his parents brought a wave of homesickness that he hadn't felt in a very long time. He sighed and slowly packed up his things, leaving a generous tip for the waiter who'd kept him topped up with tea and shortbread for the entire evening.

He was just getting ready for bed when his phone beeped, signalling a new text message. "10am at Piccadilly Circus tube station. Be there!" It was Dick. In spite of himself, Kaldur breathed out a small sigh of relief. It was good to know his colleague didn't hate him for interfering. Yet.

Next morning dawned grey and chilly, streaks of half-hearted rain splattering the windows. Kaldur shivered as he got out of bed and hastily dug through his closet, pulling out the first sweater he could find and the thickest pair of jeans he owned.

Just as he was about to head out the door, he realised that he'd need an umbrella. After ten minutes of futile searching, he finally discovered a tiny, pink plastic umbrella with Hello Kitty stamped all over the top. He supposed the only mercy was that everyone else would be too busy huddling under their umbrellas to notice it.

When he got to Piccadilly Station, he immediately spotted Dick standing by the ATMs fiddling with his phone, dark glasses perched crookedly on his nose as he squinted at the machine. "Morning, Dick," he greeted the other.

"Good morning, Kaldur," Dick said in his best posh accent. "Lovely British weather today, isn't it? And that umbrella is absolutely delightful."

"All right, I get it," the man dryly responded. "What were you up to yesterday?" _Apart from calling off the movers._

Dick shrugged. "This and that. Spent some quality time with Tim, seeing as he's back from university for the weekend."

"Tim's your…brother?" Dick tensed up a little and then nodded.

"He's actually joining us for lunch, but he's not really much of a morning person so I let him sleep in for a bit."

"Ah. Is Zatanna on her way?" Dick nodded.

"She should be here soon, though I reckon the accident at London Bridge probably held her up."

"She's not, uh, involved in it is she?" Dick grinned and shook his head.

"No, nothing of the sort. Just a bit of a hiccup on the train tracks; something about wonky wiring but that could mean anything really. If she's not here in another ten minutes we'll have to get going ourselves." Dick produced a long list out of nowhere and pointed at one bit of chicken scratch. "That's where we're headed."

Kaldur squinted at it. "Forge Cinema?"

"_Fourth_," Dick corrected him and then craned his neck to look again. "Does it really look like a 'g'?"

"You have terrible writing," Kaldur commented.

"That's why I type things. Come on Kaldur, get with it."

"So why is Tim back for the weekend?"

Dick smiled crookedly. "Family tradition. All the kids have to come back at least once a month for 'family bonding time'," he waggled his fingers in quotation marks. "Alfred gets all disappointed otherwise."

Kaldur couldn't really see Dick being swayed by the sheer force of just disappointment, but then again family was different. If the way Dick talked about Alfred was indicative of anything, the man had practically raised the entire family himself. Then again, Dick didn't seem too inclined to talk about his actual parents in general.

"It's good that you're close," he commented.

"And he has a girlfriend now, can you believe it?" Dick clasped his hands together. "I'm so proud of him. A girlfriend! My little brother is all grown-up now!"

Kaldur smirked. "You're going to ask for all the details, aren't you?"

"Well, wouldn't you?"

Just then, Zatanna popped out of nowhere and clapped a hand on Dick's shoulder. "Hello, everyone!" She cheerfully greeted them both. "Kaldur, it's great you could make it."

"I'm glad you were willing to let me join you," Kaldur replied politely.

"Don't be silly," she scoffed, "It's very relaxed. As long as I don't bring a horde of people in the cinema people are fine with it. Besides, it's a good way to raise profile right?"

As they made their way out of the tube station, Zatanna explained a little more about the venue she was looking for. "So the film itself is about this kid whose artwork comes to life, and how it affects everyone he meets in different ways. It starts off heart-warming and then turns into this massive tearjerker towards the end, and it's just…amazing."

"So what kind of cinema are we looking for?" Dick asked.

"Always so unromantic," Zatanna scoffed lightly. "The producers haven't given me much to work with, really, but they just want to make sure they have a small space so that they get to talk to people and really make an impression. They want to start small, seeing as the budget's a little tight at the moment and they want to get to as many different cities as possible."

"So Fourth might not be their cup of tea then."

"Not necessarily. I'm just going to give them a couple of choices; they gave me the initial possible venues and I'm narrowing things down. So a small, cozy one that holds about 150 or so, and then a bigger one that has space for up to 250."

"Is the guest list sorted out?" Kaldur asked.

"We're still waiting on replies but we've gotten all the major magazines, plus we have a whole bunch of tickets up for grabs on Facebook and Twitter so we've got at least 90-odd filled," Zatanna confidently replied.

"Zee's amazing at publicity," Dick added. "It's like magic. She says two hundred, three hundred show up." Zatanna laughed in response and ducked her head.

Fourth Cinema was a conspicuously well-kept cinema standing tall amongst the otherwise somewhat-run down buildings in the area. Kaldur thought it actually looked rather nice, but he could tell that Zatanna had already dismissed it as a serious contender. Dick seemed to be rather ambivalent about the entire thing, carefully examining a gigantic potted plant in one corner of the foyer whilst Zatanna spoke to the manager.

"It's very good for promotional events," the manager told them earnestly as she led them through a number of theatres of varying sizes. "And if you'd like, we can customise the theatre and multi-purpose room according to your requirements." She handed them a glossy brochure each and then discreetly left them to discuss and explore some more.

Zatanna obviously hadn't changed her mind. "This is way too big," she said as she looked around the theatre.

"They have smaller ones, don't they?" Dick asked.

"Well, yeah, but the whole…vibe is wrong. It just doesn't feel like a place that you'd want to stay in after the movie; you just want to swarm out. And we're trying to make sure the director and producer get to talk to as many people as possible, really drum up support for the film on this side of the pond, so to speak."

"So I guess that's a pretty decisive no on your part?" Dick asked suddenly. Zatanna nodded.

"I was hoping they'd have better pricing too, to be honest," Zatanna revealed as they headed towards the next cinema. "It'll eat up most of the budget I have and that's not even including refreshments."

The next place they visited was a cinema named Solar Movies. It was brightly lit and cheerful, with 3D replicas of all the planets in the solar system hanging from the ceiling. "Pretty cute, right?" Zatanna asked with a smile as Dick and Kaldur both tilted their heads back to admire the stunning detail given to the ceiling.

"When it goes dark, the stars come out," their guide remarked from behind. "Watch." He flicked a switch, and the entire lobby slowly went dark. It turned out that the ceiling had also been studded with tiny lights, all of which looked like stars as they slowly blinked on.

"Impressive," Zatanna commented. "But we're not just looking for a fancy lobby." Her smile tempered the comment and even if he had noticed the almost-insult, the manager appeared not to react.

They were guided down a series of spiralling corridors, the manager explaining that the cinema had originally been an old art gallery. "They're mostly prints now, but we have a few originals hanging in the lobby and in a couple of the function rooms. The cinemas are well-furnished and fully-equipped with the latest tech; screens, sound and all." Zee nodded thoughtfully. "Can we see the projector rooms?"

They were taken upstairs and along yet another set of corridors culminating in a tiny room with one large glass window. "One-way mirror," the man explained. "We see outside, the audience just sees the back of the theatre." He moved around, pointing at all the bits of different equipment and talking about the different technologies available.

"Hey, Kaldur," Dick whispered, alarmingly close to his ear. Kaldur just barely managed to refrain from leaping into the air and turned to face his friend.

"What?"

He followed Dick over to a large table with a display of reels of film and other shiny gadgets scattered all over it. Dick slid one finger along the surface of the table and held it up. After some squinting, as the room wasn't particularly bright, Kaldur realised that it was dust. "This stuff can't have been moved for weeks," he softly commented. Dick nodded.

"So what have they been doing here? Or are they having hard times?"

Kaldur was willing to bet everything he owned that it was the latter, confirmed by the way the manager's eyes lit up when Zatanna mentioned calling him back regarding further questions and handed him her business card. They were again given a number of glossy documents listing the different packages on offer for private events, and even Dick's eyebrows rose when he read the price of a Basic package.

"Well," Zatanna said doubtfully, "I suppose they are doing the catering as well, so they're charging a little extra on top—"

"That place was _dead_," Dick commented. "Kaldur saw the dust all over that one table."

Zatanna nodded. "Yeah, that projector definitely hadn't been moved for some time. I'm surprised they were that sloppy though; if they skip on the very lifeblood of their industry, how are they going to handle anything else? Shame though; the theatres were pretty nice."

"Not if they fall apart from neglect," Dick commented wryly. "So where to next?"

"Last one before lunch," Zatanna said cheerfully and Kaldur looked at his watch, trying to not to be too surprised by that fact that it was already close to noon. Had they really spent that long in each place?

It turned out the third place was a total bust. It was tucked away in a dingy little alleyway that smelled distinctly of week-old garbage. Nevertheless, Zatanna strode on in, clearly determined to look through the entire place before deciding.

The inside turned out to be no better than the outside. The floors were suspiciously sticky, there were three broken light bulbs in the foyer alone and the walls were a shade of sickly green. Much to Kaldur's alarm, he heard two distinctly different voices coming from the same cubicle in the men's bathroom and beat a hasty retreat, not even bothering to use the facilities. Meanwhile, the manager had thought it a good idea to show Zatanna and Dick photos of some of their previous events, all of which appeared to consist of a number of very scantily-clad women posing provocatively. Much to her credit, Zatanna appeared unfazed and politely thanked the manager for his time, again promising to call if she had any further questions.

As soon as the manager was out of earshot, Zatanna immediately headed for the door at a much quicker pace than she had at the other two. "Come on," she hissed from the door. "Let's go already!"

The three of them made it out back onto the main street, inhaling the somewhat fresher air gratefully and determinedly not looking at their shoes. "I think I caught an STD just from being in there," Dick remarked in disgust.

"Be grateful you didn't see the bathroom," Kaldur told him. Zatanna and Dick both pulled disgusted faces.

"What on _earth_ was that place?" Zatanna wondered. "My colleague recommended it, said it was absolutely fantastic for intimate PR events. What was he thinking?"

"Mistake?" Kaldur suggested.

"Nah, more like sabotage," Dick said. "Zee's way ahead of everyone else there. Your colleague was probably just trying to mess with you. Sorry," he added when the dark-haired girl shot him a reproachful look.

"Be that as it may, it's already three for three," Zatanna sighed. "Unwelcoming, expensive, and outright sleazy. Not a good start."

"The second one wasn't too bad," Dick pointed out. "They'd probably be open to price negotiations if you brought up the fact that their equipment isn't in the best of shape and mentioned the film's reputation abroad."

"True," she sighed. "Whatever. Let's just walk the smell of garbage off first and then we can go get something to eat. When's Tim coming?"

Dick was tapping away on his mobile. "He just got up," he announced after a pause. "He'll be down by quarter after one – is that okay?"

Zatanna nodded. "Of course! Where are you meeting him?"

Dick shrugged. "I think he's just going to get the driver to drop him off near Piccadilly Circus and he'll walk the rest of the way."

"Do you need to go pick him up?" Zatanna asked worriedly. "I mean, it would be quite problematic if he spent half an hour wandering around trying to find us..."

"You just want time alone with Kaldur," Dick accused her. "But you know what? That's okay too. Where do you want to go for lunch?"

"Kaldur?" Zatanna asked him. "Any particular preference?"

"Er…"

"There's a good burger joint on Wardour Street," Dick immediately suggested.

Zatanna rolled her eyes. "Let the man speak," she admonished the other. "Anything you've ever really wanted to try but never got the chance to in the US, Kaldur?" She asked. "Anything at all?"

"I'm really okay with anything," Kaldur said. "Just as long as Tim can find it. Besides," he smiled at Zatanna, "I've heard you've got lots of good recommendations." Zatanna and Dick both laughed at that.

"Okay, fine," she conceded. "How about that Greek place then? It's still on Wardour, right before you get to the burgers."

"Eh, why not. It'll do Tim good to eat something other than English," Dick commented as he checked his phone again. "He's in the car now," the lawyer declared. "I'll go get him and you two go get a table okay? Hopefully it won't be too crowded."

Zatanna scoffed at that. "Don't worry; I doubt there'll be too many people out here today demanding Greek for lunch." Dick turned back to give them a quick wave and headed down the street, presumably to go pick Tim up.

"So Artemis told me you're becoming a regular at Flash," Zatanna began. "How's the MMA coming along?"

Kaldur laughed. "Painful," he admitted. "It's a lot more strenuous than Muay Thai or kickboxing; or maybe it's because I'm out of shape."

Zatanna hummed. "I know what you mean," she replied. "I went to one class and realised I absolutely _hated_ it. I was black and blue for a week afterwards!"

"I can imagine. I went with my – my sister-in-law once and she refused to go back. Accused me of trying to kill her, too."

"You'd have to drag me back there with an entire team of oxen before I'd set foot in that place again," Zatanna immediately followed. "But it's good that you're enjoying it. Artemis also mentioned that you've got good potential; better than some of her other students, anyway."

Kaldur ducked his head. "It's a shame I can't make the evening group sessions," he said. "It's very kind of her to train me in the mornings even though there's not really a specific class."

"I think she likes you," Zatanna snickered. "Not like that," she hastily amended at Kaldur's look. "As in, she thinks you're a pretty decent sort, if you don't mind my saying so."

"I'd like to think so, too," Kaldur replied a little dryly. "So do you do this often? Take a weekend out to explore possible…venues for events?"

"Yes. It's absolutely wonderful, being able to find just the right place for a client and organising everything and watching it all go off without a hitch knowing that you had a part in it." Zatanna was completely animated now, hands waving enthusiastically to demonstrate her point. "And you get to find so many other new places along the way. I would have never found a good place to get Polish if my boss hadn't sent me to check out this one particular theatre for a meet-n-greet with a band."

"Polish?"

"Polish!" She nodded happily. "It's really heavy and the portions are massive, but it's so absolutely delicious you won't leave anything anyway. And there are quite a few places that do incredible Vietnamese."

"So food's a big part of your life too?" Kaldur asked.

"It's more like exploring," Zatanna said after a pause for thought. She nudged Kaldur, indicating for him to turn right. "Being able to try out new things, find stuff that others usually miss. I love travelling too, but I think there's something special about exploring a place that you've lived in your whole life and still finding new things to try out. So I love doing this sort of thing; it's like rediscovering a city, you know?"

"So I'll be sure to contact you if I want the unofficial London tour right?"

Zatanna laughed. "I wouldn't say that," she replied. "But if you're looking for something off the beaten track, I'd be more than happy to help you out. Especially if you have family or friends visiting and you want to take them somewhere nice."

"My parents are coming to London for Christmas," Kaldur said. "So I might have to take you up on that offer sooner than you think."

"No worries," the girl smiled. "I'm happy to help." She nodded to her right and Kaldur realised with a start that they'd arrived at the restaurant. "Here we are."

After ten minutes' wait, they were finally given a table situated squarely in the middle of the restaurant. It was slightly crowded, Kaldur noted as he shifted his chair for the third time, trying desperately not to jostle the man behind him. Zatanna grinned ruefully. "Sorry," she said, "It's a little crowded, I know. Do you want me to go see if they have another one?"

"Don't worry," Kaldur hastily told her. "I think I'll live." He smiled. "It'll be like my first year working in the bullpen. The premises were too small so they had all the first-year associates double up. It was pretty awkward for the first six months."

"No kidding," Zatanna laughed. "How did you manage to get anything done?"

"Willpower and a great filing system."

Tim and Dick showed up ten minutes later. "So Tim, I'm sure you know Zee but this," Dick gestured at him, "is Kaldur." Tim gravely extended one hand and Kaldur shook it, feeling oddly like he was meeting Dick's parent.

"It's good to meet you, Kaldur," Tim said politely as he shook Kaldur's hand and took a seat. He sat down awkwardly and proceeded to bury himself in the menu.

"He's shy, did I mention that?" Dick asked loudly and grunted as a sharp elbow made its way into his ribs.

Zatanna leaned over and patted Tim on the back. "It's great to see you're back in London," she told him at which point the other mumbled something and ducked into the menu again. "We were just looking around some cinemas. You're welcome to join us after lunch, if you'd like."

Tim shrugged and mumbled something that sounded like 'Maybe', causing Dick to beam proudly. Just then, the waitress came by asking if they were ready to order.

"How's university?" He asked Tim after they'd all placed their orders. "Oxford, right?"

"Oxford's good," Tim said. "Fun, kinda…different." He paused awkwardly. "It's strange living in a small town when you've lived in London all your life."

"Different environment and atmosphere, huh?" Kaldur asked, hoping to build a rapport.

"Yeah," Tim agreed. "Less…crowded. And hectic."

"You joined the Quiz Society, right?" Zatanna asked. "You were always so good with trivia."

Tim gave her a small smile. "Yeah," he said. "I just found out I made the team for University Challenge."

"That's brilliant!" Zatanna beamed. "We have to celebrate. I'll treat you to lunch this time, okay?"

Dick sighed. "Please, Zee," he told her, "There's no need; Alfred's already promised to make him a raspberry tart from scratch."

"Don't be silly," she scoffed, "We have to celebrate."

"Sorry," Kaldur said, feeling rather out of his depth. "What's University Challenge? Is it like a quiz bowl for universities here?"

"Yes," Dick and Tim said simultaneously. Dick gestured for Tim to continue.

"It's a national quiz bowl for UK universities," Tim said. "The whole tournament's aired on television and the winning university gets a trophy and bragging rights for the year." Kaldur nodded.

"Congratulations. It must have been tough to make the team, right?"

Tim shrugged. "Sort of. Oxford and Cambridge usually send teams from each college though, so technically I had less competition since I was only up against people from my college."

"That's still no mean feat," Kaldur pointed out. "You must be pretty excited about it, right?"

"Eh," Tim shrugged. "It's still a long time away, and it's up in Manchester."

Dick cackled and Zatanna looked amused. "Is there something wrong with Manchester?"

"Sure. It's not London." At this, the other two burst out into full-blown laughter.

"But it'll be better this time," Dick teased, eyes dancing mischievously. "Thanks to a certain blonde classmate by the name of Cassandra—"

"Shut up!" Tim barked, his cheeks red. He leaned over to punch a still-laughing Dick lightly. Dick fended him off easily, which only seemed to infuriate the younger boy more, and they sat there shoving at each other until the waitress returned with their food.

"You've been to Manchester before?" Kaldur asked when the two paused, distracted by food.

"Yeah," Tim said. "Don't ask."

Kaldur decided to ask Dick about it later, since Tim was clearly unwilling to talk about it. "Are you just back for the weekend?"

"Yeah," Tim said. "It's kind of a family tradition thing. We all pick a week to come back and have a big family dinner."

"I heard. Alfred gets annoyed if one of you doesn't show up, right?" Tim looked slightly surprised and shot a look at Dick, who simply nodded and gestured for him to continue.

"Yeah," Tim answered. "Dick refused to show up once and I think there was actually ice on the chandelier when he finally did turn up." He shot a triumphant smirk at Dick, who huffed in exasperation.

"I did not refuse! I was on secondment in Brussels!"

"Which is technically only a few hours' train ride away, tops," Tim pointed out. "You could have caught the Friday evening train, gotten back on Saturday and then headed back Sunday evening with plenty of time to spare."

"They were asking people to come in on Saturday!" Dick protested.

"And Alfred was asking for one afternoon," Tim responded.

Dick took another gigantic bite of spanakopita. "Yeah, whatever," he pouted. Kaldur had to smile at that.

Tim patted Dick's arm comfortingly. "Don't worry, Dick. Remember that time Jason—" He suddenly stopped dead and then looked back down at his food like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Dick went from pouting to poker-faced in an instant and a sudden chill descended over the table.

"Long story," Zatanna whispered to him, sensing his confusion. Kaldur raised an eyebrow; Dick seemed to be _full_ of secrets.

"So," Tim continued in a small voice. "Uh, lunch. And dinner. With Alfred. This weekend. Hey," he looked directly at Kaldur. "I heard you and Conner spent the day in Brick Lane yesterday, right?"

Kaldur blinked, not missing how Dick and Zatanna immediately leaned forward attentively. "Yeah. But we ended up stuck in a coffee shop because of the rain." He was proud of being able to say that without blurting out any further details.

"Brick Lane, huh? He must like you a lot to take you there. Eating with bare hands and all that." Kaldur idly wondered if Tim knew Roy in any capacity. "You guys went to Taj Mahal, right? The family-run business with Arjun?"

"…Were you spying on us?" Kaldur asked in surprise. For someone who had supposedly returned on Friday night, Tim seemed awfully well informed about Saturday's events.

Tim rolled his eyes and Dick snickered. "No. I talked to Conner. We went out for a drink." Now Dick just looked plain surprised.

"Since when have you been such good friends with Conner?" The other lawyer asked. Tim huffed in exasperation.

"Uh, maybe since that time you told me to take my bike to him after _someone_ ran it over in the driveway?" Dick raised an eyebrow.

"But why's he telling you and not me?"

"Probably because he thought Kaldur wouldn't want you knowing all the details," Tim said smugly. "And trust me; _nothing_ will convince me to spill the beans so don't even try it."

Kaldur didn't know whether to be pleased that Conner thought about him or mildly concerned that the next closest thing to a stranger knew everything that had transpired yesterday. Thankfully, Dick didn't seem to be inclined to press for details and simply moved onto asking about Tim's new girlfriend, causing the younger man to blush and stammer awkwardly.

The rest of lunch passed relatively quickly when Zatanna gasped and pointed at her watch, reminding all of them that they'd booked a cinema visit at two…and it was already quarter to two. They hastily polished off the last of the food, Zatanna somehow slapping down a credit card before everyone else even realised the bill had arrived and headed out the door at a brisk walk. Tim decided to join them, although he grumbled that it was only because he had nothing better to do anyway.

Kaldur found himself walking next to Tim as they headed to the next cinema (BAL Cinemas, although what the letters stood for he wasn't sure). The other completely ignored him in favour of his phone at first, fingers flying over the tiny keyboard, but he soon put it away and struck up a conversation about Kaldur's decision to move to London.

While not as outgoing or approachable as Dick, Tim had his own odd charm. Once he'd relaxed a little, he proved to have a keen eye for detail and a surprisingly acerbic sense of humour. Unfortunately, he hadn't quite picked up social etiquette, and so it was that Kaldur found himself on the receiving end of an interrogation that would have done Jack Bauer proud. "And you're not seeing anyone else, right?" Tim asked, glaring fiercely up at him.

"No…" Kaldur was sure he'd covered this territory with Dick too. The only person who didn't seem to have picked up on it was Conner himself.

"You sure?" Tim fixed him with an icy stare.

"Yes!"

"So why is Conner still saying that he needs to make sure you leave some guy called Roy once and for all?"

"…Do we really need to have this conversation right now? In the middle of a busy street?" Zatanna and Robin were far up ahead, so far that there was no conceivable way they could possibly hear anything.

"Stop avoiding the question!"

"I've never been together with Roy! He's straight!"

"So why didn't you just tell Conner that?"

"It's not something that comes up in conversation that often. I'm not sure why."

Even Tim could hear the sarcasm in Kaldur's tone. "Fine," he snapped. "But just so you know? You might have Dick on your side but I'm not going to let someone cheat on my friend and get away with it. Conner's a good guy. He doesn't deserve to be stuck with someone who's just going to string him along and then leave as soon as something better comes along."

Now Kaldur had to wonder. "Has that happened before?" He asked casually.

"Uh, _yeah_ Sherlock," Tim replied. "Not that it's any of your business, but if you so much as _think_ of hurting him? I'll bury you so deep they won't even know you're gone."

"Of course you will," Kaldur blandly replied. Tim growled slightly and then dashed forward to catch up with Dick and Zatanna.

If the morning's cinemas had all been duds, the ones they saw in the afternoon were much better. They were all fairly close in size, thus dashing Zatanna's hopes of finding a small theatre and a larger one to compare, but she insisted on choosing two out of three 'so that the client at least felt like he had a choice'.

"So I think we can rule out the first three cinemas without too much fuss," Zatanna dryly commented as they left the final theatre. "But the other three are all so…evenly matched. I'm in favour of the fifth one though," she held up the brochure. "It's got a number of interesting packages, they'd be happy to decorate according to specifications and they're actually within budget even with the decorations."

"I thought the fourth one was pretty good," Dick piped up. "The one with the 3D projectors and everything? That one was awesome. And it's only a little, tiny bit more expensive."

"You just liked it because it had gadgets for you to play with," Zatanna sighed. "Although…" Her eyes lit up. "Maybe we could put them both on the list? We need two choices for them to pick from, anyway. What about you?" She looked over at Tim and Kaldur.

"They're both pretty good," Kaldur said. "So I guess we can eliminate number six, unless someone speaks up for it?"

"I liked six," Tim spoke up. "The one that was magic-themed, right?"

"That one was really pretty too," Zatanna said thoughtfully. "So it's up to you, Kaldur! You get to be the tiebreaker!"

"Don't worry if you can't make up your mind," Dick said. "I'll just make your life at work miserable for the next week if you _don't_ pick the one with all the pretty machines." Zatanna smacked him for that.

"If that's how you want to play it…" Tim said aloud, casting a quick, amused glance at his brother. "Kaldur, if you don't pick the magic-themed one, I'll tell Conner I saw you making out with Rob in the King's Cross tube station."

"…Who's Rob?" Kaldur really hoped he didn't mean _Robin_, but Tim probably wouldn't make jokes about the other man's love life seeing how they were blood-related. Jokes about family members' love lives were never good, after all.

"Your friend. You know, the one Conner thinks you're with?"

"You mean Roy?" Snickered Dick.

Tim flushed. "Shut up." Dick continued to snicker until the younger man threw his hands up in the air with a huff. "Whatever. I'll tell Conner you hate puppies."

Zatanna threw her hands up in the air. "Will you all stop trying to _bribe_ him?" She demanded. "The poor boy's new in town and you're already trying to force him to agree with you! And you," she rounded on Dick. "You're a lawyer! Aren't you supposed to be about fair play?"

"Only when it benefits me."

"Well, you're going to put forward two choices anyway, right Zatanna?"

"Of course."

"Then I suggest Zatanna's choice," he had to raise his voice to be heard over Dick and Tim protesting vehemently, "because it's within budget and flexible."

"But what about the _gadgets_?" Dick wailed melodramatically. "Say it isn't so, Kaldur! Don't break my heart!" He grabbed onto Kaldur's arm and continued wailing, shaking the man slightly. Tim looked torn between embarrassment and amusement, and Zatanna had the long-suffering look of one used to Dick's antics. A few passers-by looked curiously at them, but for the most part (much to Kaldur's relief) they were ignored.

"Dick, please stand up," Kaldur said carefully. Dick continued to wail, now making up nonsense like 'Please don't leave me' and 'I'll never make meatloaf again'.

"Dick, if you don't stand up and stop caterwauling I'll tell Alfred," Tim said briskly. Much to Kaldur's surprise, Dick actually stopped. He shot the other man a dirty look.

"Spoilsport."

"So Number Five and Number Six then? Since the film is about magic, after all. It only seems right we recommend a place with a fitting theme."

Tim smirked and Dick sighed in mock-disappointment. "See if I ever help you again," he told Kaldur.

"Thank you for your help, gentlemen," Zatanna smiled. "I'll just record these numbers of my phone, and then we can go get coffee or dinner or just walk around for a bit more." She wandered off, leaving the three men to wait. Kaldur shivered slightly and looked up at the sky, surprised to see that it was already getting dark. It appeared that the days were starting to get shorter now, and they would soon be well into autumn. The first few bars of some Britney Spears song suddenly sounded loud and clear from next to him, and he turned to see Tim blushing furiously and pulling his phone out. Dick's grin was visible from a half-mile away.

"Hello? Cass? Hey, yeah, I'm—" Tim shot Dick a venomous glare when the other leaned in to eavesdrop and walked a small distance away, hiding out in the doorway of a convenience store.

"So a little birdie told me you and Conner were _very_ happy yesterday."

Kaldur continued to stare up at the sky, hoping that if he ignored Dick long enough, he'd actually be able to keep the details of his love life to himself for once. Just as he though Dick had gotten the message, he heard the other begin singing. "Kaldur and Conner, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…"

"Gross," Tim commented and shoved Dick playfully. "I'd rather not hear any more, thanks."

"It's a beautiful act, Timmers," Dick cackled and ruffled his hair. Tim shot him a nasty look and headed for Zatanna, immediately engaging her in a heated debate about Bon Iver versus The Lumineers.

"Your investment in my love life is disturbing," Kaldur commented to Dick. "Perhaps we should discuss yours too, just to make things fair."

"Mine? Have at it."

"Spending time with Kory this weekend?" Kaldur could practically see Tim's and Zatanna's ears perk up at the question.

"Nah, Tim's home and I promised Zee I'd come with her today; couldn't leave them all alone now, could I?"

"And she's okay with that?"

"Why not? We're just dating, nothing serious like you and Conner."

"Is that what she thinks?"

"What are you, her father? Her virtue's safe with me. Or, well," Dick added with a smirk, "as safe as _she_ wants it to be."

Zatanna was unable to contain herself any longer. "You're casually dating Kory? Kory Anders? The HR girl who's had a crush on you since time immemorial?"

"Yes – come on, Zee, I told you this already!"

"Not me," Tim commented from the side. "Pray tell, Dick; what brought this decision on?"

"A gentleman never kisses and tells," Dick primly told him.

"So how did you ask her out?"

"Nice try."

Kaldur thought about it for a moment. "Did she ask you out?"

The silence said everything.

"_She_ asked _you_ out?" Tim asked in surprise.

"It wasn't like that!" Dick tried to defend himself, but the faintly-embarrassed look gave it away. "I was talking to her about the company cocktail this month, she made a joke and I was laughing, and then she just sort of leaned over and kissed me!"

Zatanna looked amused. "So you're saying that she took advantage of you?"

Kaldur was still trying to wrap his brain around the thought that Kory could be that aggressive. He'd always pegged her as the type to keep a silent crush for years and not do anything about it.

"Yes!"

"You didn't make the first move? At all?"

"Well, I mean, I thought she was kind of strange but really pretty? And she told me about this dress she wanted to get and—oh whatever, you won't believe me anyway," Dick huffed, realising that his audience was a lost cause.

Tim raised an eyebrow. "So…she kissed you and you decided to just…go out with her?"

"You're making it sound like such an…impulsive decision."

"It's not?" Kaldur inquired blandly. Zatanna shot him a surprised look and then smiled quietly to herself.

"No." Dick glared at him mulishly and crossed his arms. "And why are you ganging up on me, anyway? I thought you were my friend!"

Tim smirked wide and happy, and Kaldur thought he caught a glimpse of approval in the other man's eyes. "Because even _he_ can see the truth," the younger man told Dick. "You're totally moping over Wally, so you think getting into another relationship will take your mind off things."

"Which it won't," Zatanna added helpfully. "And it's not healthy to keep avoiding conflict."

"What are you, my therapist?"

"Just your friend."

"Ooh look! Guitars!" Dick immediately dragged them all into a music store that smelled suspiciously sweet and insisted on flipping through every music book and score in the place. "They have the Downton Abbey piano score here! Sweet!" Dick snatched the score up and paid for it, rushing out of the place like a hurricane. Zatanna and Tim seemed accustomed to these sudden fits of frenzy and simply shrugged at Kaldur when he gave them a questioning look.

"Wanna get dinner, Kaldur?" Dick asked Kaldur outside, practically bouncing on his toes. "We should get dinner. In fact, we should _all_ get dinner. Any suggestions?"

"I want mussels," Tim declared without hesitation. "Moules et frites."

"French? I could go for some French," Zatanna beamed.

"Well, Belgian actually, but who's counting?" Dick latched onto Kaldur's arm and began hustling him away.

They had just gotten settled in when Zatanna suddenly leaned forward, peering intently through the gap between Kaldur and Tim's shoulders. Even Dick stopped mid-chatter, looking around before his eyes widened and he ducked his head, hissing for Tim and Kaldur to do the same. "We gotta leave," he whispered. "_Now_."

Kaldur stared at the metal salt shaker before slowly angling it so that he had a better view behind him. There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary; a family having dinner, a couple having what looked like a very comfortable date, two elderly men enjoying their beers, two dark-haired men who looked remarkably like—Kaldur's thoughts stopped dead in their tracks as he realised who they were.

"Is that _Clark Kent_?" He asked in surprise. Dick hissed and gestured for him to shut up, even though there was no conceivable way the other two could hear him through the chatter of the dinner crowd. "And _Conner_?"

Dick gave a small moan as the man in the salt shaker (Clark Kent, if the shoulders were anything to go by) stood up. As though he was watching a film in slow-motion, Kaldur saw him turn around and head right towards their table. Zatanna muttered something under her breath and Dick swore.

* * *

So it occurred to me that I never put the original prompt up here because it was back on LJ for everyone to look at. So here it is, in all its detailed glory!

"The first time I met my true love, he punched me in the face."

Nocape!AU, romcom style, Kaldur as a new guy who comes to the city to take a job.

He makes friends with  
-the sweet girl M'gann,  
-a talented young colleague at work who has trouble with anyone being in authority other than him (Dick Grayson, rich boy),  
-a super-active apartment neighbor Wally (if you want a bit of side Dick/Wally, that would be fun :3)  
-Tough girl he physically trains with, Artemis

Roy is an old friend of his who welcomes him to the city :)

And he falls in love with Conner Kent, who, the first time he met him, punched Kaldur in the face.

Thanks for reading and have a great summer!


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